when is downloading music legal or illegal?

LimeWire: Legal or Illegal

LimeWire and other file-sharing software are legal. Using it to upload or download copyright protected media -- music, videos, images, software -- without the copyright holder's consent is illegal because it is theft.

Here are more opinions and tips:

* LimeWire says it is legal because technically it's just a "file sharing" service and it is not held responsible for the files that are downloaded onto the system. Only the users are responsible. That's why, when you download songs from LimeWire, it's legal for them, but NOT for you.

* Don't be fooled by the fee you pay to use the PRO version of LimeWire. The artists of the songs you download don't get a penny of that! ("LimeWire offers two versions of the software: LimeWire Basic which is free of charge; the other is LimeWire PRO which costs a small fee, features faster download speeds and better search results, including up to 6 months of free updates and customer support via email.")

* Even if you download a coyrighted song for your own personal use, it's still illegal. Perhaps one could skate around the issue if they already own a legal copy on a CD, but then why download it if that's the case. Any fees paid to LimeWire are for purchasing the software and that's it.

* LimeWire is not illegal software. All it is is file sharing. However, many people abuse this by sharing songs without the copyright. For example, if you have produced a song and then share it on LimeWire, anyone else can legally have it for free. But when you haven't made it, but an artist has, who has copyright on that song (which they all do) downloading that song without permission from the producer is totally illegal.

* Downloading songs and other copyrighted material is illegal, but if you wanted to share a music file of you singing or playing an instrument, then that is perfectly legal.

* LIMEWIRE IS ILLEGAL! Although, with LimeWire, you will probably never get caught, if you as much as bring your computer in for a repair and a worker sees the program or any music you downloaded from LimeWire, he is ordered BY LAW to tell his boss, and you will get a fine (I had to pay approximately $200.) It's not pretty. Although we all want LimeWire to be legal, it isn't.

* The LimeWire software itself is not illegal -- that is why the site is still up and why you can still download it. However, if you download a song from the program and you do not pay copyright on it, that is illegal. Songs from the 1950's (or before that date) are legal to download because their copyright has expired. Anything from after that is illegal to download. However... You are all going to do it anyway, so this is just to make you aware of the legal situation!

* Is LimeWire illegal? No, it is not. It CAN'T legally be held accountable for what its users do. Let's put it like this: A major virus takes out the whole of the Internet. But when they trace the source, it leads to Runescape servers, for example. Runescape is an online game that gives its users access to its servers, kind of like LimeWire. Now are the people who own Runescape responsible? Nope, but its users ARE. Same thing with LimeWire. My advice to you is this: Do not use it to access "free" music, or "free" programs... images... and so on and so forth. I have had my fair share of songs I got from LimeWire. And if I could, I would return them to the artists and companies that worked hard to make them.

* Here is some info regarding P2P software and file-sharing. If only people would just take the time to read the fine print. I've visited the websites of a few popular file-sharing software distributors and looked for disclaimers, TOS, End User Licenses, etc. I have only quoted bits of relevant information to give you an idea of what to expect. For more detailed info, follow the links I've provided or visit the sites yourself for the full text. Continue reading to see what I found.

* LimeWire itself is legal. Downloading any copyrighted song that you do not pay a royalty fee on is illegal and is stealing, unless the artist has given his/her permission to do so. The legality of most P2P sites is questionable, at best. Will you be prosecuted? More than likely not, but the question of legality is another matter. This entire issue has not been resolved as of yet. Could you be prosecuted? Possibly. It is your choice. Agree or disagree, this is how a friend of mine -- a lawyer -- explained it to me.

* It's been said again and again. Yes, LimeWire is legal. But not everything you choose to do with it is.

Just to try to paraphrase the various responses:

Downloading music is legal when the owner of the copyright in the music has a license to distribute it. Typically, if you buy music from iTunes music store, or a similar provider, then your download will be licensed by the copyright-holder, and thus perfectly legal.

Downloading music is illegal when the copyright-holder is not licensed to distribute it. File-sharing software like Limewire is usually a forum for people without licences to transfer music between each other, illegally. (It is unclear in many jurisdictions whether or not the creators of Limewire are themselves engaging in copyright infringement, ie by facilitating unlicensed downloads).

In general, if you pay specifically for the song (and not merely the software that enables its download), it is very likely that you are paying a licensed source for it (so it is legal).

In general, if you are downloading from a peer-to-peer file-sharing network like Limewire, it is very unlikely that you are downloading from a licensed source (so it is illegal).

Is Limewire Illegal

A real simple test is to see if the copyright owner has authorized the site to distribute their material, whether it is for a fee or not. For example, iTunes sells songs and video that the copyright owner has authorized them to do. The P2P sites (like LimeWire) are not authorized by the copyright holder.

When you have not paid for the right to download anything with a current copyright.

Limewire is illegal, but iTunes is legal.

This is because on Limewire you aren't giving the artist credit, or something like that.

For iTunes you are paying the cost.

Hope this answers your question.

When you pay, its usually legal. When you don't, it's usually not legal.

If it is copyrighted, and you didn't pay for it = Illegal.

limwire is illegal. but itunes is legal. if ur paying for it its always legal.

Legal: when you're paying for it.

Illegal: when you're not paying for it.