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Limewire: A Moral Dilemma

May 2nd, 2009 - Uncategorized - 10 Comments »

Roughly two-thirds of my current iTunes library is made up of songs I downloaded from Napster when it first came out back in college. I remember sitting in my dorm room for hours, downloading any live Dave Matthews Band concert I could find (I think I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 different versions of Tripping Billies).

A few years ago I manned up, deleted Limewire (a newer program that allows you to get music for free) from my computer, and vowed I would never again get music without paying for it.

Just the other day though, after reading my admission about my love for Toxic, my friend Heather showed me this incredible mashup version of the song. It was wonderful. Here’s the problem, though. If I want to hear that song again (or any other rare version of a song), I can’t. iTunes doesn’t sell it. So, I’m in a pickle, and I need your help. Please be my moral compass and answer the question below:

To Limewire, or Not to Limewire?

View Results

  • http://bryanallain.com/blog bryan a

    I’ve got a few friends in the music industry, so i tend to be a namedropper. I also tend to be more of a stickler on pirated music (can i say that or is it no longer PC?). My rule of thumb is: If it’s something I would NEVER buy, then I’m okay not paying for it. Except if a friend burns me a CD and i love it, I usually don’t go out and buy it. So I guess I’m pretty wishy-washy.

    I’m scared of LimeWire for the viruses and malware more than anything…even with a Mac.

  • Joel

    Limewire is really easy to get caught on. Use torrent programs like Azureus. Way better quality and as far as I know, fewer chances to get viruses.

  • http://www.stephenbateman.com Stephen Bateman

    What about lala.com or grooveshark.com, both legal and free or cheap. If you can’t buy it, why is it a problem to not buy it?

  • http://kevinkeigley.wordpress.com Kevin

    Tyler, I once faced this same dilemma when I wanted a GI Joe at K-Mart. What did I do you may ask? Why, I found a cheaper item in the store, took off the sticker and covered the price on the GI Joe action figure. This was before the days of the laser scan, or what I call the “cancer ray”, and the checkout kid was none the wiser. So, having said that, I think you should pay for the music. If you can’t, then suck it up.

  • philly

    I wish God had said something about stealing somewhere, sometime in history so we would know what to do when we face “dilemmas” like this.

    ps God is already mad at you for thinking about it.

  • Bryan

    First of all, there is a 0% chance you’ve “un-downloaded” any version of Tripping Billies or any other song you’ve downloaded in the past, meaning your moral conviction is, “I won’t download ANY MORE songs as long as I can keep the ones I have.” You’ve gone this far, why stop for a version of Toxic?

  • Kyle

    Maybe you should not like toxic and there ya go…

  • http://pjisamixtape.wordpress.com pj

    t,
    here’s a good solution, mac has a free program called acquisition, it’s not limewire, and therefore you avoid your dilemma altogether…

  • http://taftastic.wordpress.com Lee Taft

    For the record, Dave Matthews Band allows free trading of their concerts. So, as long as you aren’t downloading the live recordings that are for sale, carry on my wayward son.

  • http://www.brittanybuchanan.wordpress.com Brittany

    I say go for it…if only for your love of mash ups…partly because I’m the one who gave Heather that compact disc including that song. Also included in that mix was a pretty great one between “sweet home alabama” and “country grammar”.