Audiogalaxy going the way of Napster

[ln]

Audiogalaxy Settles US Music Piracy Lawsuit

From The Wall Street Journal
NEW YORK -- Audiogalaxy Inc., a music Web site, settled a lawsuit filed against it by major record companies and music publishers, which had accused it of allowing music piracy over the Internet, according to a recording-industry group involved in the case.
Under terms of the confidential settlement, Audiogalaxy of Austin, Texas, will make a "substantial payment" to the two trade groups that filed the lawsuit on behalf of recording companies and music publishers, said a spokesman for one
of the groups, the Recording Industry Association of America. In the settlement signed yesterday, Audiogalaxy also agreed to remove from its site all material that infringes on the music industry's copyrights, the spokesman said.
Audiogalaxy founder Michael S. Merhej, named in the original complaint as a defendant, didn't return calls to comment.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court late last month in Manhattan, was the latest effort by the music industry to shut down services that allow users to swap pirated music. Recording companies have sued a number of other companies on similar grounds, including Napster Inc., Streamcast Networks Inc., Kazaa BV and
Grokster Ltd. The Internet and compact- disc-burning technologies on home personal computers have been blamed by people in the industry for slumping music sales. The lawsuit against Audiogalaxy said the company operated a service that
let users share pirated copies of songs "by the millions, if not billions," including works by Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and R.E.M.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires

[Gayowulf]

I have never used audio galaxy, but i know that it, and eventually most p2p music sharing programs, will slowly become extinct.

THere will always be a way to share mp3s though.

My current favourite is usenet.

[Blank Verse]

It started going that way a while ago. So many songs are blocked from sharing. It's a shame too, cause it was lightning fast for me

[GregT]

its get all my music from Meijer, (its like walmart but its only in the northern states of US), and when i hear a song i like on the radio i just grab it fronm kazaa lite

[smorodina]

I think the music industry needs to realise that it is to blame for piracy by charging ridiculously high prices. Getting on for 20 uk pounds for one cd (almost 30 dollars) is way over. I won't pay that much, even for artists I like. I'm sure that if they dropped the prices by at least half they would increase their sales and reduce piracy. A big part of the cost of cds must be the enormous sums they spend in lawsuits and tracking the pirates. Anyway, it's dead easy to find most of the latest releases on sites in the former soviet union and far east. They're never going to stop that.

[biggulp]

their "rip-proof" CDs won't deter us!

[98125]

Originally posted by smorodina
I think the music industry needs to realise that it is to blame for piracy by charging ridiculously high prices. Getting on for 20 uk pounds for one cd (almost 30 dollars) is way over. I won't pay that much, even for artists I like.

I thought that albums were £15 and singles £4, or they are where i get them. They have tried shutting down audio galaxy before but they managed to survive because they claimed that most music cannot be downloaded or something similar.

Mullin

[98125]

and everything's gone now, where else can I go thats free?

Mullin

[Gayowulf]

Kazaa lite is good.

Or usenet if you have a quick connection

[Mikki00]

Audio Galaxy is pretty good, there a huge song and video archive that likely is hard for me to find in Kazaa. But Kazaa Lite still is the best to find those freewares.

[biggulp]

warez too