Music downloads can be a very efficient way of obtaining songs, rather than buying the CDs, however there is a rather unfortunate illegal side to this in some cases. Some websites, like Limewire and Firewire, are illegal and offer free pirate music downloads. The people which use these sites can be found out by the government, and there are serious consequences for the people who have been found to be selling illegally downloaded songs. It isn’t just music with which this can happen; movies can also easily be illegally downloaded. Although this is less common than illegal music downloads, the punishments are more severe.

Illegality aside, there are many legal download websites which can be trusted, iTunes is one in particular which many people use because the software comes free with iPods. The website includes many different download opportunities including: Albums, Movies and TV shows/series’. Most of these are at cheaper prices than you would find in your local HMV, especially the TV Series’. This seems a very risk-free option for the people who download illegally, they have to pay a small amount of money but there is no risk of being prosecuted and potentially sued, so why do they do it? Perhaps because of the economic climate people don’t want to be spending money on things like music, or maybe people are under informed about websites like iTunes.

There is a group in the USA called the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which first launched charges against individuals who downloaded large amounts of illegal files. This campaign wasn’t very popular with critics because they only decided to sue a few out of the millions that undergo with illegal downloads. Unfortunately, this is the only major scheme that has been created to prevent illegal downloads, although it has taken down the number of illegal downloads in the states by about 10%, a similar, more publicised scheme, would definitely have more effect.

By Chris McAlister Community Correspondent