Slashdot Mirror
U2 Threatens to Release Album Early on iTunes
Uninvited Guest writes "After a rough cut of U2's latest unfinished album was stolen earlier this week, the band has vowed to release the entire album on iTunes if the music appears on P2P networks. Bono told the London Daily Telegraph, 'If it is on the Internet this week, we will release it immediately as a legal download on iTunes, and get hard copies into the shops by the end of the month.' Is this the exact opposite of the Smashing Pumpkins' last album, which the band rushed to release on P2P networks, before it could hit the stores?"
If it's available for free on P2P networks, we'll make it available for people to buy online?
Just don't get that.........
So what if they release it on iTunes? What does it matter? Besides, it'll end up in P2P regardless.
Of course, I really don't care much about U2 at all.
John Kerry is a Joke!
ah seems that some one is a bit spooked by this whole thing.
I think this just promotes a P2P release. Post it and we'll release it, almost a reward to the fans...
Seriously, what's wrong with iTunes? Just wondering.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
Great bands....like U2?
... and in a related article containing an even worse threat, "U2 Threatens To Release Another Album".
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! THE CRAPPY MUSIC COMETH!
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
They're threatening to release the album in an unfinished state to stores because some poeple may or may not download it from P2P networks? I'll rush right out and buy that... not.
They can release it on Aimgrrl.com for all I care, only reason why that shit would ever be on my computer is out of spite.
Slashdot sucks
Smashing Pumpkins did not rush to release their last album on P2P before it hit the stores, rather, they used P2P as the *only* way to release the album. They sent out 25 vinyl sets of the album to various community members to get a P2P release going.
Who would want to steal a U2 album? Now I'd steal a Jessica Simpson or Nick Lachey. Maybe a Brittney album. Yah! Like totally.
Losers whine about doing their best
Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen!
Ok, now someone please steal the next Tool record so we can all get it a couple months early.
If it appears on P2P networks, it will likely be at a low bitrate (128k MP3 or something around there). While iTunes is only 128k AAC, you're still guaranteed that the album has been ripped properly, not just by some kid on KaZaA. I will definately be getting it from iTunes if this happens.
"Machina II: Friends and Enemies of Modern Music" was never, and was never intended to be, released in stores.
I think they like... think that doing this will somehow punish the person who stole the disc, to make sure it doesn't happen again... or something... Maybe Bono has just finally gone over that final bit of the edge...
As someone who would like to hear the music soon, I'll be at home recording tracks of me singing 'yay, can't wait for itunes. C'mon bono, release it to itunes. La la la la!' for 4 and 5 minutes each, then name them after the album and use the songlist from Amazon.com.
Stage 2, post them to P2P programs but prevent anyone from succesfully downloading them.
Stage 3, wait until someone hired by the record agency finds them listed and assumes the worst. Presto! The songs are released to iTunes weeks early.
Mission accomplished.
Does this work the other way around as well? If it never appears on P2P networks will they delay the release of their album indefinitely? Please God, I hope so. I would give money to the RIAA to help keep this album off the networks if it meant no more U2.
if it's a rough cut, then it won't be as good as the one you can buy.
if it's a practically perfect copy, then why haven't they released it already? (hint: outdated distributed method defended by useless middlemen unwilling to die gracefully)
maybe they're scared that p2p will allow people to "try before you buy", and just want people to be able to pay for it before they've heard it, cf MPAA wanting mobiles banned because people can talk to friends about crap movies as soon as they've seen it.
What pathetic soul would go and steal their CD, after they've spent years making it, only to have all of their hardwork flushed down the drain by some asshole who might release it on P2P networks. Anyone who steals U2's music on P2P networks (do you walk into a clothes store and swipe socks? No? Then don't do it on the internet you thief). Particuarly stealing U2's music considering they are pretty big charity givers and have given AIDS foundations millions.
It's the greater of two evils. Either wait a few months and have finished crappy music or have unfinished crappy music right now.
What are you expecting to find here?
Publicity. Stunt.
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
maybe I will fuck off, what then AC asshole
You'd figure that it's all in the title of the Pumpkin's last album. The truth is that, though Billy Corgan loved the idea of free music, the band was only allowed to release it on-line after Virgin decided that they wouldn't make any money on it.
As it is, though the album has some great music on it, it is rough... very rough. Given the sales of Machina, which didn't exactly reach the figures that they wanted, F&E was released for free as high quality mp3's.
So, is U2 the friend, or the enemy of modern music? Is "modern" music that which is envisioned by the likes of Corgan, where expression is free in it's entirety, or is it that which rakes in the cash? I'd say that it's the former, since that's where the real expression comes out. U2's last album was somewhat of a whore for sales... it sounded nice and poppy, none of it was objectionable or edgy... and it sold a lot of copies. U2 is showing their true colors, now, by fleecing us with their name. Their music isn't special anymore, it doesn't have the content anymore, it's just meaningless pandering to the "modern music" crowds.
I'll stick with my Pumpkins for now.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
They think that by giving their album out online as a "legal download" it will discourage people to steal?
Maybe if a bank gets robbed before it opens they will say "To hell with the vault, we will just leave our money on the side of the road from now on, that will show them!"
U2 should stick to enviromentalism and anti-war semantics before trying ass backwards methods of "getting people back" for stealing their music.
Why they even care is beyond me, I thought U2 was all about "the message they represent" and not about the money. "People that care about people."
I thought you were cool bono!! COOOL!
Anyways thats all for me.
Seriously people, since when does U2 suck? Oh yeah, since they tried to make some money off of thier album. And for the people that think the p2p version would be a treat, it is unmastered, and as Bono gets older, the cigarettes sink into the vocal cords, and production helps the music sound a lot better. Have you ever listened to an early EP of your favorite group? With a few exceptions, shoddy production can make for a shit record, no matter how talented a group is.
A rough cut of the disk disappeared from a recording studio in Nice during a photo shoot .
It's clear that a photo shoot in Nice has proved itself to be a device that could be used to illegaly copy music. I propose an immediate Senate bill to ban such technology.
The band was putting together the finishing touches. Most of the album had previously been recorded in Dublin.
It's clear that being present in Dublin has proved itself to be a device that could be used to illegaly copy music. I propose an immediate Senate bill to ban such technology.
We have seen the future and it is digital... u 2 can be there.
Anyone seen my jagged little pill?
Unless U2 is releasing their unfinished album on iTunes (maybe with some rough cuts), it's not going to prevent the rough-cut version from being more popular than the complete album.
History tells us that incomplete things actually commands more value, like money notes, stamps etc.
Uselessful technology (Air-Charged
the problem is the town bike, AKA: your grandmother, downloads from iTunes. This is a site for geeks we are supposed to be using things that regular people refuse to use. That is the probelm with iTunes! p.s. If you didn't get the town bike reference what I am saying is your grandmother got riden like the town bike p.s.s. if you still do not understand I am saying your gandmother is a whore who'd like the pen!s
released to stores. Can we check our facts before we post on the main page? I'd think the submitter would at least read the article he submited, but I guess even that's too much to ask for around here.
Also, dear god, whoever stole those files give them back or at least don't post them on the internet. If you post the files those IRISH terrorists have already won (by spreading their crappy music).
Please keep you're lousy fscking blog promotion off Slashdot. If you can put a witty sig about Kerry in there, it would be good for a laugh. My guess is that you're as incapable of humor as you are incapable of appreciating decent music.
no text, unfortunately. i'm a very busy man.
Great, so put songs on itune, so what? It's only goanna make Steve job the happiest guy on earth.
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
Am I the only one who read this headline "U2 Threatens to Relase (a new) Album"?
I suppose I just need to skim less...
Why would U2 take the actual CD of their incomplete album to a photo shoot? And since it was a rough cut, it almost certainly was a CD-R, so you would think that any old blank CD disc would photograph just as well. U2 has been out of the spotlight for several years, and somewhat forgotten. Then all of a sudden, their CD is "stolen" and they are back in the news. And to top it off, they "threaten" to release their album early to foil those dastardly P2P pirates.
4. $$$$Profit$$$$
how could the band let this happen? Why did they bring a copy of the album to a photo-shoot? For it to have gotten stolen, I assume they left it alone. One would think they would be smart enough to guard that disc at all costs.
Just because someone is a complete moron does not mean you should invalidate everything he says. It is very possible a complete moron, through stupidity could say something smart.
Bravo!
The only thing U2 is good for is a politically-correct answer for politicians to use when asked what bands they like.
I find Bono extremely annoying and self-important. Every song of theirs features the same annoying twang guitar chord. Thanks a lot "The Edge". What kind of name is that anyway?
The Brits are extremely pompous and annoying, but at least we can thank them for Led Zep, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, The Clash, and others. Ireland? Forget it. Stick a fork in it, it's done.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
"Fucking Brilliant"
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
Your summation simply proves that the Grammys don't know shit about music. They know about mainstream, and that is about it.
Side note, yes, I liked earlier U2 (a lot), but they quickly lost their edge (pun intended). If you need to know their pinnacle, it was around the time you would dance in the mirror to their music.
Bono's going to war against copyright infringement.
In this case Bono of U2 won't be the first Bono to support strengthening copyright law.
A band threatens to release a new album.
*Pictures Bono holding Steve on the ledge while waving around an iPod.*
"Don't make me do it!"
What the hell, U2 threatens to... release the album!!!! Holy crap!
This page was generated by a Barrel of Circus Midgets, and that is the way I like it!!!
As opposed to Limousine Conservatives?
You think Bush and Cheney care about workers or something?
Bush comes from a very elite New York family that is worth millions and millions of dollars.
You think a New York blue blood like Bush gives a shit about people like you?
Obviously not otherwise they wouldn't have consistantly given you the shaft for the last 4 years.
If your sick and tired of it why did you post as AC FUCKWAD
Hopefully the album was stolen by Father Lankester Merrin who'll know what to do with it.
http://www.commaecho.com
Let us know! It's supposedly basically done too, but will be undergoing editing/refinement/etc. in the future months (early 2005 release expected. WTF?).
BTW, is Trent Reznor on Doom3?
John Kerry is a Joke!
I'm usually not one to listen to popular music (not that I'm knocking it or anything.) Organic instuments never really appealed to me, but U2 is one of the few popular bands that I could always seem to get into. My musical tastes are mostly aggressive electronic music (industrial: Skinny Puppy, Haujobb, yadda yadda), so maybe I'm not the right person to be giving a critique on U2, but as far as I see things they've just totally sold out and shown that they seriosuly have no clue.
For example, take the release of their albumb POP back in 1997 or something. It was an interesting albumn; it sorta picked up where Zooropa had left off. It was a lot more "experimental" (at least for them) and just by listening to it I sort of got the felling that U2 didn't really give a fuck and just wanted to make the music they were inspired to make. Well, the critics and many of the fans totally wrote the album off as too "electronic", and a few years later U2 releases the completely horrid All That You Can't Leave Behind, which I never even had any interest in at all, but the songs I did hear were just so boring and cookie cutter. But the kicker is that the album went on to sell VERY well, not to mention a US tour with people willing to sell their momma's own titty just to get a ticket. Shocking!
Anyway, I think the "threat" of putting their new album on iTunes because it's been stolen just shows how out of touch celebrities get when they hit the big time. And I don't mean just famous; I mean HUGE. U2 has been a big band for nearly 20 years now, if not more, and as far as the politics that they might have been aligning themselves with before that association is obviously completely gone. Personally, I don't believe in that shit anyway, as politics in popular forms of entertainment seems to me to be just another marketing tool, but that's my own take on things.
--
Is it me, or did it just get fatter in here?
I found it odd that Virgin fucked it all up, because I think Machina II was far better than Machina I. Than again, Corgan wanted Machina II to be freely downloadable to whom bought Machina I-- as a marketing device (this is becoming the norm now, but was not done back than), but the record company and major music stores in Europe wanted to copies of Machina II to sell. SP got fed up with their label, and just released the music, since they no longer we obligated to make/release albums for Virgin.
I just don't like the whole concept of trying to make people pay something for nothing. You get no actual benefit over the less legal way, but Apple lines their coffers. I've got moral issues with corporatization like that.
... it's just another way to get their name in the news while simultaneously promoting iTunes Music Store, which Bono has already appeared in promotional material for.
I totally don't get this (and I totally haven't read the article either ;-).
Who gives a toss if they put it on iTunes or not? The fans will buy it no matter what, and the pie-rats will download it from P2P no matter what (or steal it the old fashioned way: borrow the CD from a friend).
If they *really* want to fuck with the filesharers, they'll finish the album and change a few songs and write a few new ones, make it better (stop laughing) then release it and surprise everybody.
That's what some indy labels have done.. basically seed the P2P networks with a bunch of crap and call it the new album, then surprise everybody with the real album. Yeah, you'd think it would backfire and people not buy the album because they heard the "P2P promo", but remember we're talking about people who buy music, not "brand names" and word gets around.
Oh well, U2 are definately "old timers" in the business, not really clued in to the way things work these days, so I can't really be concerned.
1. Downloading from iTunes isn't exactly fast. And if it is, you're just getting lower quality music. I don't subscribe to iTunes (and neither does the majority of the world), so I'm pretty sure the amount of effort to create an iTunes account with address and payment information, and then download a decent-quality version of the full U2 album will be non-zero. I'd rather
find (easily) the bittorrent for the album and click. No personal information given. No payment information. Easy.
2. Consider that it was a good quality recording that was stolen, so there will likely be at least one non-lossy rip floating around (FLAC, etc.) and at least some good 320kbps rips also. Can I get non-lossy quality from iTunes? Or at least 320kbps-equivalent?
I just can't see the advantage of iTunes. And don't lay legal crap on me. I live in Canada, and P2P has been put to the legal test here, so all I need to do click, download, and play. Yummm...
Easy.... the band works in Mysterious Ways.
Funny stuff.
I feel like I've heard that song at least enough to last back into the 80's.
This is the part that bugged me the most.
French police have launched a major operation to find the disc.
Next time a frenchman misplaces a copy of his favorite album, I guess he should just call up the police, and they'll get right on that, too. Right?
Officer: What's that? Someone is breaking into your house? Ok, can that wait like another 15 minutes? We just got a lead on U2's lost CD. They're great, aren't they?
they used to have such a unique sound. Seems like it's all been downhill post-Joshua Tree...
Did they lose band members or just get old and lazy?
Do you know that the big movies make the majority of their money on the first weekend of their release? The initial release is the real money-maker for most media in modern times. In fact the sales of Nirvanna's "Nevermind" were artificially blown up because of Christmas sales. A little known fact is that "Nevermind" broke the record for the most returns for any music release, because many people returned it after receiving it Christmas Day, but music stores and radio stations focus exclusively on sales, usually initial sales. There's big money and big profits involved- and it effects you're rights and privilges as a consumer
So WHAT!!??? He's a fucking MUSICIAN!! It isn't his JOB to care about anyone's ass other than his own, and he actually goes beyond that by helping out charities, Amnesty International, whatever.
I don't know what planet you were raised on, but isn't it the job of our nation's LEADERS to help out Americans in need? Get your shit straight.
U2's music is such crap, I can't believe anyone would even want to download it free on a P2P network.
This story doesn't pass the smell test. Nobody brings a live CD to a photo shoot, where this CD was supposedly stolen. The usual industry practice is to shoot a photo of the packaging, which is provided without the actual CD, which may not even be complete at the time of the photo shoot.
I used to work in product packaging, and many many times I produced package comps (full quality mockups) for CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes that would not be finished for many weeks or months. The advertising production usually precedes the finished product. Anyone who would take the final unreleased product to a photo shoot, where there are a whole lot of bozos floating around just waiting to steal anything that's not nailed down, well, they're just asking for trouble. That's the whole reason to send faked comps instead of live product to shoots.
Out of curiosity, do you complain about liberals who post political links in their sig? Or are you just offended that a conservative might mention their politics in earshot of you?
Obviously a case for the Pink Panther! Seriously... I've seen some comments about how "out of touch" U2 is... but I think they leave as much of the promo crap to the suits in the marketing department as they possibly can. I beleive the label is mainly responsible for deciding when to release the cd. The boy in the band may be as puzzled about this ploy as ./ readers, and they may care even less.
So to get HL2 out quickly we need to steal the binaries or the sorce code, why hasen't any one thought of that before, hey wait a second didn't that sort of backfire
Weapon
More like "What is that? You have someone breaking into your house? You must wait. U2 has lost their music and won't leave the country until we've found it. French culture is at risk. At risk we tell you!"
I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
You get no benefit out of buying a CD from a store rather than walking into said store, grabbing the CD, tucking it under your shirt, and walking out without paying. So you support shoplifting as well, eh?
As a 42 year old woman...activist and all out politically active person and geek. I love Bono. Is it a stalker thing? Nope! He means well and I support him in this. Is he sexy? Yep! Uhh, sorry /. for changing the subject. ;) Is this off topic? ;)
Pink Floyd had Dark Side of the Moon bootlegs in stores....
"Pink Floyd played a concert version of Dark Side at London's Rainbow Theatre in February 1972. To their dismay, a bootleg recording of the concert sold 100,000 copies about a year before the official release." Article
And look what it became...
"In the USA, DSotM is the 18th best-selling album of all time and has spent a total of over 740 weeks on the Billboard magazine music charts with the longest continuous period lasting 591 consecutive weeks. It reached the #1 chart position in the US, Belgium and France; even in 2002, thirty years after the album's release, over 400,000 copies were sold in the United States, making the record the 200th bestselling album that year. "Time", "Money" and "Us and Them" have become radio call-in favourites (with "Money" having also been a bestselling single in the USA)." Wikipedia
If it is good enough people will still buy it. So if this record is phenomenal U2 should just finish it.
"French police have launched a major operation to find the disc."
I just realized how screwed up this world really is. A major police operation has been launch to find a CD. Aparantly all other crimes have been defeated.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
IP of all sorts will get copied in spite of all the DRM and other crippling technology people can devise. It's not just music, if we can't prevent kids from downloading in rich countries, how can we expect to prevent motivated adults in countries without a history of IP protection from duplicating. In China, they clone cars , that's surely not frictionless. Someday, IP of all sorts will be marketed like other perishables with a finite shelf life. Copyright and trademark laws will need to adapt to this reality.
Musicians and Authors will be like Engineers and Programmers and Farmers, if they want to live off their IP, they will need to keep producing more of it. Which was kinda the whole point of IP laws in the first place
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
This is because The Smashing Pumpkins are cool and Billy Corgan isn't a tool who's all about the money but actually loves the music, and.. U2 are a bunch of money grabbing whores who pretend to be all about peace and love but couldn't really give a shit.
Even if you know a thousand things, ask the man who knows one.
Erm wait. . . How will this show them again? This seems like a pretty empty threat. Are they under the impression that pirates care if the song is available for sale or not?
.
I'm not saying this isn't a smart move in that it might sway die-hard U2 fans (if there is such a thing) from the temptation of downloading the tracks from kazaa early -- though I bet most of them who did download them for free early would still buy the cd anyways. .
Still, I hardly see how this qualifies as news, or why this seems to be worded as an ultimatum to the pirates.
just because I'm fed up with crappy rips, incomplete songs, and screwed up tags to even bother with p2p anymore.
The ONLY reason I've used p2p at all recently is because I heard some bands on Snake Net Metal Radio (one of the iTunes radio stations) and I wanted to hear at least 1 or 2 other songs by the bands (Nightwish, in this case) - I said "Hey, decent band!" and went out and bought 2 of their CDs, and plan to buy more.
So, this could very well work.. and p2p can serve as a great way to find new bands. I never thought it could happen, but it came along for me.
Oh, and porn. I wish that there was iTunes for porno flicks. Oh yeah.
feh
John Kerry is a Joke!
Rich guy #1 (in office) doesn't give a SHIT about you, unless your ass is WEALTHY. All he cares about is making himself, and other millionaires, RICHER. They will lie, cheat and steal --- not just from you, but from your mother, father, brothers and sisters, ESPECIALLY anyone who is POOR. He and his cronies will not stop there. They DO NOT care about this country's people, except for the Very, VERY WEALTHY. Such is the nature of many (but not all) REPUBLICANS.
Rich guy #2 acually cares about the poor people of the nation. So what if he's rich -- running for office takes money --- DUH. Democrats in general tend to care more about PEOPLE than $$Dollar Signs. What does that mean? It means that they tend to care more about giving money to schools than to the military to rip us off ($500 for a toilet seat, anyone?). If our nation's minimum wage ever gets raised, it won't be by a Republican --- they're OWNED by big business. And there are many, many other reasons people should vote Democratic. I like Nader for some reasons, but you have to realize...
A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. It counds AGAINST the Democrats.
Sometimes it's not about voting for the candidate you like the most.
It's about voting for the candidate who actually stands a chance of BEATING the one you DISlike the most.
...which is forced to ALWAYS work pro bono...
knee-jerk? check. post? check. okay, time to read the article.
Fucking terrorists.
What they should do is offer people the opportunity to buy a legitimate copy of the album in advance of the album actually being released. If you do the pre-order, you're also cleared to download the leaked version if you're impatient. If the reason to release the album early is to give fans a chance to pay for it when they first hear it, they might as well give the fans that chance without rushing the distribution channels. If both are available at the same time, the reason to buy it from iTunes instead of downloading it from P2P is to have the right to have it, not because Apple's packets are somehow more pleasing than other people's. So there's no reason not to sell the right to have a copy without actually distributing a copy at the time, if the customer is willing to make their own arrangements until the album is officially released.
I think this is actually part of a planned campaign, and if you think about it for a minute or two, it's brilliant. There's not really any reason they would need a rough mix of their album to do a photo shoot. I suppose they might want the photographer, art director, or whomever to hear it to get a feel for the music before snapping photos, but there are other ways of doing that. Playing their new tunes before a photo shoot sounds a bit more like a garage band with a decent first-time-in-the-studio recording rather than an international blockbuster act. So what's the gimmick? U2 says the rough mix was stolen and if it shows up on P2P, they'll rush it out on ITMS -- weeks before the CD will show up down at the Sam Goody. Which means it will be online first, and legally. There's lots of U2 fans who will buy this record as soon as they can, and don't much care about the format, so long as it can be burned. There are some who will just copy it, but many people will pay because they know it's the right thing to do. By releasing releasing early only on ITMS, they'll be reap all the profits the CD would (at least for a few weeks), while cutting out CD, burning, printing, distribution, and stocking costs. These costs are not insubstantial, but they are a bit out of whack. If you look at CD production costs, you will notice that there are three elements (not counting time and labor): 1) physical disc; 2) jewel case; 3) printed cover. Of these, the most expensive is the paper cover; the cheapest is the disc. The publicity from the theft story gets them loads of coverage over several weeks, also providing convenient details about how to buy the goods. U2 may be on to something here. 1) Create buzz with free coverage in world media (here's where the obligatory ?????? comes in) 2) Make product available only through download, cutting out a great deal of manufacturing expense 3) Profit 4) After delay, release product in lower-margin physical form 5) Profit more
"I don't understand the threatening nature of the band's proposal to immediately make the album available on iTunes and later in stores when it is finished. Can someone explain ?"
I believe that was Slashdot's idea of sarcasm. Judging from the comments I've skimmed so far, U2 is not well liked here.
"Derp de derp."
Because I can.
Besides, setting your ass straight wasn't worth creating an account over. Stupid prick.
Oh yes, Michael Moore brings us the truth. http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-i n-Fahrenheit-911.htm
-- Blah blah blah... are you still listening?
Err I don't think I made that clear enough. I think the sarcasm is something like:
"George Lucas threatens to release Episode III", nobody is exactly pumped about seeing it so...
NG
1. war is bad
2. the common man is good
3. we'd like another stadium tour now, please
come for the naked robots, stay for the zombies
That story is wrong! The truth is that U2 has delayed their album a year because they have to change the security measures on the album so that hackers won't be able to use the stolen version to write quick cheats.
The cake is a pie
How about a simple "said"?
There is no justification for the emotive terms "threatened" or "vowed".
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Chairboy should be on American Idol. He might be the next William Hung! ;)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
No. Shit.
The lesson here is that U2 has crappy fans?
When Rush was about to release Vapor Trails a year or two ago, i happened to find mp3s of the complete album a month or so before it hit stores on a P2P network. I had actually been looking for older Rush mp3s and was suprised but very excited to find the new ones as well.
I downloaded the mp3s, spent a few weeks listening to them at work, and then bought the CD the first week it was out.
At the time i don't remember Rush complaining about the mp3s being out there. They certainly didn't move their release date because of it. And as a solitary representative of their fans, i at least did not feel less inclined to go out and buy the album. So what's up with U2 and their fans?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
make music that doesnt suck ass, and maybe folks will buy it.
the record industry is in the toilet because rap/hippy-hop/talentless morons , whatever the hell you want to call it is horrendous. it only caters to 10 year olds and a few folks who are tone deaf.
until they realize this, they will continue to lose revenue and customers.
Has anyone seen Steve Jobs and Bono at the same place? Could they be the same........ Nah.....
Zoid.com
homer: A grammy?! but i want an award that's worth winning!
scrolling text: Warning: homer simpson does not represent the views and opinions of the writers of the simpsons, who do not consider the grammy an award.
Regardless of whether they're liked, it seems that the intent, at least IMHO, has been misunderstood. It seems to me that if their work is indeed released on P2P in the near future, then they, like any other band signed to a major record label, have a choice of either letting every fan download it illegally (which would be more than usual since it can't/won't be released on CD for months) or immediately offer it on iTMS where they have a hope of getting some revenue for their work.
It doesn't seem so much a threat as it does a simple, well meaning and fairly savvy move to try & recoup some revenue from their work, should it become available on P2P.
Normally honest fans might be enticed to illegally download the album just to hear it if they can't have a legal alternative for months. I don't understand how this move, in any way, can be construed as negative. They are trying to make the best of a bad situation for them by embracing a viable and legal alternative that promotes a modern distribution method. And it might set a precedent. Suppose it does hit P2P and they do release it on iTMS. This would be the first major album released online only (for the time being). And maybe they sold alot. And maybe they, and many others, realized that bands that are already 'made', have no need for the RIAA and can go to iTMS directly and make alot more money. It's a scenario that is just waiting to happen. Someone willdo it - be it U2, Bowie or whoever. And that will be the real death knoll for the RIAA.
What I'd like to know is that a threat Bono, or a promise? The last thing I'm interested in hearing is a new U2 album. Ugh! No offense to the fans, but its my kind of muzak.
AIM IM with shatteredfurby
12:18 AM
nickslikesmen: i heard you submerged your long hard ship full of seamen into buttlovers abyss of shit last night
shattered furby: Where'd you hear that?
shattered furby: Did frankie tell you that?
shattered furby: Well it's true.
TV. corporeal. Mass. replaceable by a different item, only.
please, tho this is not me condoning it, copyright violation is not stealing someone's property. It is acquiring a perfect copy of intellectual property through shady means.
ed2k://|file|U2.-.Vertigo.-03.mp3|4077454|C3F4C577 AE20995628BE34603ADC7E39|/
Made you look!
"After a rough cut of U2's latest unfinished album was stolen earlier this week, the band has vowed to release the entire album on iTunes if the music appears on P2P networks."
.mp3 wired, deny ourselves a huge revenue stream and put it strait to digital format so the pirates don't have to work too hard to get it.
...Yeah, and????
I mean, is that a threat? Because I truely am baffled. "By golly, since somebody stole our copy, we'll release the entire damn thing on iTunes!" Ok, so we're going to punish the large majority of our innocent fanbase who still easily outnumber the
Aside from the potential bonus of making iTunes more popular, there's no freakin' logic to this action. Millions of people who have never downloaded a song in their lives are being cut out of the loop for.... Uh, what was that reasoning again???
Yeah... You go U2. Show em who's boss. ^_^
You need a FREE iPod Nano
It's already available here, but please don't click and slashdot the site.
While you were thinking up the conspiracy theory you could have downloaded the album.
5 77 AE20995628BE34603ADC7E39|/
ed2k://|file|U2.-.Vertigo.-03.mp3|4077454|C3F4C
+1, Insightful
Huzzah for major bands being more important than violent criminals.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
I don't know if anyone attempted to use Kazaa lately. But 98% of anything I download off Kazaa has been decrypted with an annoying buzz noise. You can't even get songs off Kazaa P2P anymore.
And sharezilla sucks, everyone I know who installed it has gotten blue screens of death. Is there a linux P2P alternative? There, U2 shouldn't worry.
Seriously, though, Bono may be insane, but this may work for them. Nowadays, people would rather buy music than download it illegaly, if given a choice. Besides, the stolen version is unfinished. I think that most fans would rather buy a GOOD version, rather than run the risk of being sued over a crappy one.
I read that and I heard it in Kasey Kasems voice.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You're taking what was said too literally. Running the country involves making decisions about where our money is spent. (Tax cuts for the rich who don't need them, or for the poor, who do?) It's about more than people providing for their own families --- Do you have any idea how hard it is for some people to simply make ends meet? Look at how low minumum wage is. In most cases, it barely keeps people out of poverty.
Okay, so which moron thought it would be funny to take a pre-release work-in-progress to a photo shoot? Bands are very careful about locking these kinds of things up. Taking the thing to a photo shoot was hardly a responsible thing to do.
The same thing happened to Radiohead's last album "Hail to the Thief", if anything it just caused more buzz and free publicity for the album.
People who are going to download the album, are going to download it, whether it's meant to be out or not.
You are, as you said, a solitary representative. Do you think every person who downloaded those files went out and bought the album the first week it came out? Probably not. Probably quite a few of them intended to buy the album, but they didn't quite have the money, or they saw something in the store they liked better, or they decided that the songs really weren't that great after all... for whatever reason, because they were able to download the songs before they were able to buy them, Rush lost a sale. Why didn't Rush complain? They probably didn't want to let everyone know that the songs were available on P2P.
I am NOT a man!
I am a free number!
Fans want to hear the album early, so over-zealous fan snags copy of album in advance... ...so band retaliates by threatening to release album early?
Waaaaah???
do anybody know a good place to get that album? a torrent/ftp perhaps?
Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
It couldve been another Metallica album
No, the lesson here is that people suck, and U2 has to cater to people. A quick Google says their last album sold over 10 million copies. Do you expect even a big percentage of them to have the nobility of spirit to wait for the legal release, or the fanaticism to pay for something they already downloaded?
And as a solitary representative of their fans, i at least did not feel less inclined to go out and buy the album.
Good for you, and I mean it. Now how many people do you know would do the same, compared to how many who would not?
[...] they used P2P as the *only* way to release the album.
Correct. Billy Corgan stated it was a personal "fuck you" to Virgin Records for preventing them in releasing the album. It was then they stopped as the band Smashing Pumpkins, to which BC said it wasn't because of issues within the band internally, but that they were tired of competing with "all the Britney Spearses out there" (something like that).
All this makes the album title quite interesting: "Machina II - Friends and Enemies of Modern Music".
IMO, what they did was very commendable given the circumstances. Thanks Billy and friends for releasing the album!
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
I just googled and could only find 3 mp3 sites for downloading (I only learnt about this album just now).
:)
Could you possibly post a link or two to some sites with the cd quality vinyl rips?
Thanks heaps
Here I am thinking about the title: U2 Threatens to Release Album Early on iTunes. Exactly, who are they threatening?
The thief? How does the thief feel so punished that they won't release it on P2P network? Do they care if others get to buy it online? Here is the news for U2: They already got you stuff, they don't give a damn about others!!
The fans? Riiight... the chance of buying U2 songs before the official release makes them scared and line up at the malls for the actual CD.
iTunes Music Store? Give them the chance to sell songs. That'll scare them. Yeah!
The record company? Will releasing the songs on iTunes scare them enough to sic lawyers to the thief? They will sic lawyers to anybody and his dog given a chance. No need to scare them.
The non-fans? OK, you got me there. We are scared of U2 releasing more songs. Please, someone, anyone... make them stop.
Which is kind of odd, given that the approximate age group that would read slashdot would be fans of U2. Maybe, it's because U2 fans don't see the point in acting stark raving mad about their own opinions of the band.. ;)
Now the real question is, will U2 feel the Slashdot Effect?
This simply shows one thing, they are a bunch of crybabies. They've made more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime, and this new record means nothing to them economically. So if they weren't spoiled little brats, they'd just go along with their recording and release the album as planned. ...unless they know it's a pile of crap. Then they got the perfect excuse: "Yes, we do know these songs are rubbish but that's because we where forced to release them in an unfinished state. It's your own fault, you potential pirate you"...
Another album that was out in the wild long before getting a real release was the last Whiskeytown-album. Im not sure how it sold though
"Meanwhile/finally, Reprise, Wilco's label, rejected the album, sparking a long search to find a new home for the band. Complaints abounded over the bizarre, noise driven elements of many YHF tracks. Songs leaked out online got a massive hype, and Nonesuch Records (owned by Warner) released YHF in 2001. Ironically, it reached #12 on the Billboard album charts, Wilco's highest chart position to that date and also charting in Australia."
Who knows, they might never make an album again out of frustration...
Bad example. You need to show that there is a down side to piracy.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
So what if they put it on iTunes? People still have to copy it, if they want to get it online. From the iTunes site:
Purchases from the iTunes Music Store are available in the United States, France, Germany and United Kingdom
So not even their Irish fans can download it, let alone the rest of the world.
So IF I were interested in downloading it, I would have to choose bteeen P2P or moving to another country. Mmmm. (And I am not even talking about the fact that I run Linux, wich is not supported by iTunes.)
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Anyone who likes U2 enough to buy their album at its release date would download this version, think it was neat, add it to their collection, then go out and buy the real album anyway. This is not a problem for sales, and the press coverage will only help. Before this story, I had no idea U2 still existed (last one I bought was Unforgettable Fire).
Your mouth is like Columbus Day.
So U2 are releasing yet another disk full of filler, and they're sorry that people are going to pirate it, hear that it's crap, and not buy it.
They're threatening us that they're going to release it on itunes? Why is this a threat?
U2 aren't quite horrid, but they've been in a slump since about 1986.
The only thing P2P endruns is the marketing machinery that takes pablum and shoves it down peoples' throats by brainwashing them that it's excellent music. The truth is, there's so much music out there that the fanbases have fragmented. Why should groups like U2 be able to make jackloads of cash when there are 9999999++ other bands hungrier, edgier and more original?
Get off your high horse, Bono, and make something good that can make a splash-- if you can. U2 are nothing without their marketing machine.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
U2 is the biggest band in the world
Don't push it! You're saying R.E.M. is a good band ONLY BECAUSE rapid eye movement is a band that comes from USA! This is so stupid. Michael Moore should visit you!
If they don't know what they're doing, they shouldn't be downloading random stuff from the internet.
The *English* are pompous and annoying. We're not. We don't like the English either.
... A French police spokesman talking about the stolen U2 album confirmed that "We still haven't found what we're looking for."
"Joy is not in things; it is in us." Richard Wagner
wrong. Terrorists love GWB because its cheaper and easier to let him do the hard work of converting thousands of young people to their cause.
You can't win Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
Just a tad controlling.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
You do understand the inherent fallacy in what you just said now? Riiiiiight?
I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
Anybody else read this and got the feeling that the iTunes part was obsolete? ;-)
So I don't want to hear any whining from the liberal Slashdot group. Support your side, people!
...would you expect anything less?
I would be impressed if boner and the gang would say screw it the whole show is creative commons... as if they still need to pump cahs into rich music execs pension funds anymore.. Either that or donate the entire albums turnover to charity, that's even better, Boner, get your ass in Darfour and help somebody!! Quit playing rich-bitch! Ach they haven't made good music for over a decade anymore so whatever...
These prove that the grammys like U2 and nothing more. They completely ignre the fact the bono is a publicity seeking c*nt.
I was used to not buying any of U2's albums at my local record store but now, with the iTunes release, I will have a new, thoroughly modern way, not to buy another crappy U2 album.
that U2 fans are not geeks who hang around Slashdot 24/7? ;)
Ok I've just woken up and I might be a little out of it, but WHY THE FUCK IS THIS A THREAT?? what are they threatening to do? release really bad music or something? Will releasing the album somehow open a key to the 5th dimension portal of darkness?? And another thing, "French police have launched a major operation to find the disc." A major investigation?? WTF is a major investigation, surely that's the sort of investigation you do when some kid goes missing and witnesses say they saw a dodgy man with a van, then you go and get 200 police to search fields. You don't do a major investigation to find a CD. The fact is, and im sorry U2, your album will be on P2P networks, either now, or when its released, theres no if or buts, its a 100% sure bet, but why half the police force of Nice should waste time looking for something that's not even the master copy is beyond me.
Stars are all selfish assholes.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
of all the bands to bash, you're going after u2?
;)
a band that has said it doesn't care about people downloading their albums, as long as they don't make a profit on it... they've actually released concert bootlegs for people to download - legally!
they do understand that the more people listening to their music the better - they are one of the bands that "gets it". the big issue here is they're worried about unfinished demos hitting the internet and people getting a wrong taste of their new album. this isn't a band that is worthy of slashdot bashing.
but then, my handle tends to give away my bias
Demarcation.
If you steal my car from me, I'll go buy a new one!!!!
How did you not get mod points when you're absolutely correct and the parent post is obviously wrong?? I guess it'd help if moderators actually RTFA and/or knew what they were talking about.
Why not just offer something on the album that you won't get from P2P?
You know.. added value stuff. Instead of just disabling the brain and rushing it out.
Doesn't this just sound like a ploy to raise interest in the band and the CD? It's getting them headlines which they nornally wouldn't have. I highly doubt any this happened...
You mean that they are going to force people to listen to the Edge play that same shitty guitar riff that he's been playing for the past 20 years earlier than scheduled?
-Cnik
Sour be thy name
U2 gives alot of money and time for good causes. sometimes all the money from the tour.I download stuff off the net but i really support U2. They always made great music so why not support them
Some software money can't buy. For everything else there's Micros~1
Anonymous U2 Band member:
Hey shit our song is available on P2P...
Bono:
It's ok we'll make those bastard suffer. Release it early before the studio can work over it and make it sound good, get it into the charts and make them hear it on every radio station known to man.
All:
Evil Laugh
What can our homeland defense and the Patriot act do to protect us from foreign threats like this.
*DrugCheese rants*
think U2's desire is to get something out that they feel is close to a finish product rather than having an album out for months that isn't near what they wanted the final album to be. For me that's a respectable decision.
From what *I* got out of the article, the album was already in post-production. Believe me, anything of significant value rarely goes on there. They'll finish post-production and ship on time. No big deal.
Edge said they lifted "one piece of plastic". Unless the band kept their sole copy of the album on one CD - which as you know isn't the case - the album isn't gone.
I would bet real money that the post-produced version isn't significantly different than the version lifted.
Sony ha
However, if it's available only illegally, then a fan who wants to hear the album has no choice but to break the law.
[...]the logic becomes quite simple.
Speaking of logic, you committed the fallacy of the false dichotomy. A fan who wants to hear the album DOES have a choice: wait. Or download illegally.
Downloading is never the ONLY option.
Sony ha
I did the same thing with Vapor Trails... downloaded it a few week early, bought it the day it came out. The one thing that bugged me about doing this was that on the MP3 version, songs 13 and (I think) 8 were swapped. When the actual CD was released, I felt that these two songs were in the wrong order for the longest time.
Anyway, actually Rush did complain about the MP3's being released. I read in an interview or two how they were quite upset that it happened.
The band either has a history of hoaxes or they're all morons.
Neither description is very flattering.
Actually, that track listing was an April Fools joke on t.d.n (or it may have been their official site but whenever I think Tool and April Fools, I think t.d.n). If I remember correctly, another track off that listing was "Floor Pail", an anagram for April Fool. But you're right, tracks did show up on P2P bearing those names. It was usually either Sober, Prison Sex or some crappy band that thought they sounded enough like tool that people wouldn't mind the disappointment...
"Watch your cornhole, bud."
All these bands are caught between a rock and a hard place with the music industry as it is today. Let's not banish U2 for saying they'll release an album early on iTunes. That's hardly the biggest sin in music today, and they're all sinners in your sense -- they all want to make at least a living.
The thing to do is try to work out a new economic model for the industry, and maybe rewarding attitudes like the Pumpkins' is a start, okay. But "everything is free free free" isn't a new way to support music, and neither side is absolutely good or evil.
You're sounding a little like the zealot who's identified an apostate -- "U2 is showing their true colors, now..." They're hardly the first band whose albums fell off some and became more corporate; Joni Mitchell was writing songs about that dissipated feeling in the 70s.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
The best place to go would be the smashing pumpkins direct connect hub, but last I checked you need to register on their web page before you can connect. Of course, now the web page gives a 404 error. Maybe it will come back on-line sometime. Anyway, the hub address is dchub://tsphub.dyndns.org:1979
Alternatively, you could wait until machina ii gets seeded again on http://sharingthegroove.org/. From a quick search, it looks like someone last tried to get this going a couple weeks ago.
Another option would be to do some searching and find someone willing to do a B&P (blanks & postage) of machina ii. You send them cdrs and postage, they send you back the discs.
Seriosly, what do they think they have some kind of power over their fans? The music will pop up on p2p no matter what, its inevitable. Weither it is someone buying it off itunes then sharing or not it will go up on p2p.
That they think they can muscle their fans is a joke. It's kind of riaa'ish.
Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.
I for one would have had no idea U2 has released another album.
I for one welcome our Irish pop overlords.
ATTENTION DUMBASS, DO NOT USE THE PHRASE "I for one". UNLESS OF COURSE YOU WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A SIMPLETON.
Kind of sad when you don't know that one of your favorite bands is releasing a new album soon until you read it on Slashdot.
It's kind of sad when one of your favorite bands is U2 !!! *rimshot*
Heh, sorry. Couldn't resist. =) I didn't need that Karma anyways.
--LordPixie
I thought they went out with mullets...
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
But will is make U2 suck any less? I think not.
It doesnt appear to be the listeners.. " if you release what you stole to everyone, we will give it to everyone in digital format earlier "..
Or at least thats how i see it...
Strange sort of threat....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Before you marked this as "Flamebait" you should have done a google search for the phrase "These guys are from England and who gives a shit."
For shame; you give computer dorks a bad name.
check in the garbage.
> Is there a linux P2P alternative?
:)
I recommend giFT. You can find it at gift.sf.net, and modern distros should have it in their repositories (try something like "urpmi gift" or "apt-get install gift" to see if it automatically installs from the internet). You can use different front-end clients with it, which is a nice feature. Apollon is the popular gui front-end, and giFTcurs is an excellent ncurses-based (works in text terminals, but has tabs and layouts like a gui app) front-end. It can be attached to FastTrack (that's the Kazaa network) as well as Gnutella and gift's own OpenFT network. It's possible that somebody will eventually add support for other P2P networks, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping.
--
-JC
http://www.jc-news.com/coding/freedom/
Bands usually try to do something new and original. Since U2 hasn't done anything original since the 80's, I guess they're trying to branch into new modern areas. This might coincide with Bono's head nearing critical mass.
Is at:
http://freality.org/library
Under "sound".
Please mirror if you d/l.
This is a threat how?
-Mark
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
"desi-i-i-i-ire"?
"Dave, I stand still--the conclusions jump to me!" - Bill McNeal, NewsRadio
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
A copy of the album was not stolen. It was left behind at a photo shoot in France. See story:
http://1077theend.com/musicnews.asp
(bottom of page)
Seriously, iTunes kills me with the AAC. I am a huge U2 fan but will only listen to OGG format sorry Apple (love your computers hate your compression). Anything else (besides wav) hurts my ears and gives me soft stool.
Hell no bitch, you'd have a dick in yo mouf!
I've always thought music was about making your story heard. The best way of getting what you're about out is to sing it and so forth...
All this proves is that U2's music isn't about love, pain or being human but about a sack of cold hard cash.Just as bad as the bastards that are pushing music clearly of an adult theme onto small children.
Friends and enemies was different for another reason, it meant something.
Complain or not I think that there is a large difference in the fan base. I like U2 well enough (and have War and Joshua Tree), but I have *every* studio Rush album. Add them up and its quite a bit. I know many more people who know and like U2 than I do those who appreciate Rush, but those who like Rush tend, like me, to collect all the music (in fact, I'm somewhat unusual for those I know as I have avoided the live albums).
On the other hand, Rush isn't U2 so when it happens to U2 its going to get more media attention. Which I guess is to say that I think Rush probably has less to lose by this kind of theft/release than U2, but the difference in perceived band reaction is likely to be just media attention.
Thoromyr
Every time U2 comes out with an album, I mail a money order for the cost of the CD to Negativland.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
I will admit that this mentality has cut into some record sales, as I have bought far fewer albums that are complete--listen to it once and throw it away--crap. On the other hand, when an album comes out that's actually good I always buy it, after all, I want to support the artists (which is really what the whole thing is about in the first place), so they can continue to make more.
What we really need is a better way to preview music that is not:
- Illegal
- Lame -- Like only giving you the first 15 seconds at 20kbps of a song
- Firmly in the grasp of large record companies that concerned only with their top-40 performers. It's a shame that most internet radio has been a huge letdown in this regard.
- Impractical -- If you charge $100 a month, or have horrible DRM, or only work on windows with special software the screws everything else up, etc....
- Obscure -- There needs to be a way to find stuff. There are some great radio stations out there that nobody knows about (and aren't available in your area).
You know what the worst part is? Most P2P applications only fail on #1, while most legal stuff fails on at least half of these bullets.I read the internet for the articles.
I've used every single P2P network since Napster first hit the scene years ago. Frankly they all suck big time in finding what you are looking for and once you find it, getting decent bandwidth to download it!
With iTunes I find what I am looking for and am able to pay for it and download it very quickly and easily. $0.99 a song is a very reasonable fee. I typically buy by the song and not the album. There are only a few albums where I would buy the whole thing and these are generally greatest hit albums. iTunes also just added thousands of Indie artists recently. Bravo for Apple!
I freaking love iTunes! I use it frequently. I buy music now and then once a month. I back up the original AAC files to DVD-RW and I use Hymn to strip the DRM and back them up again. This is just in case something goes wrong down the line and to ensure full compatibility with other AAC systems. (i.e. mp4p to mp4a conversion). You have to have a valid iTunes license to strip the DRM and it maintains metadata that would burn you if you distributed it via P2P.
Personally, I have no problem with the Apple DRM even though I back it up and use Hymn to strip it out I do not use Hymn to distribute these songs on P2P I use it to ensure future usage on non-Apple based systems.
I own an iPod and use it all the time. I burn CD's for my car. I share the music between two Apple systems and multiple users. I will stream the audio to my stereo with an Airport Express when I get a chance to buy one.
Apple is the only online vendor of music that actually 'Get's It'. All other's are clueless and are the only reason P2P is still popular. Of course there is the fringe P2P user who will never give up pirating music.
Why should I hunt and peck for music on the wilds of the Internet and risk getting sued by the RIAA when I could just find it and buy it for a reasonable price in just a few minutes?
when the smashing pumpkins released machina 2: the friends and enemies of modern music on the internet, it was partly because virgin records wasn't interested in the album (especially not a double album) after the lackluster sales of their previous album, machina: the machines of god. there is a link explaining all about it here, and you can download machina 2 here.
Well, if you RTFA, you'd see that the photo shoot was in the studio they were recording in. So, it's not too hard to imagine they would have a version of the album hanging around on disc.
Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun -Troy McClure
i promise to continue to not buy u2's music.
wankers.
lose != loose
... You live in Utah, right?
hello there straw man!
Ah, the irony of complaining about a band "ripping off" a Led Zeppelin song.... LZ was all about taking old blues songs and turning them into rock-n-roll. Which was a *good* thing, IMHO. As is the song "Bullet the Blue Sky," IMHO.
As for the severe overplaying of Joshua Tree songs by the "machine," I'm completely with you. Commercial radio can run even a good song into the ground by overplaying. Of course, it usually sticks to bad songs to overplay....
-mozo
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= John Reinert Nash -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There's a quasi-legal option out there... allofmp3.com. If you're a paid member, you can stream complete low-quality (24kbps?) mono versions of anything in the catalog. Quality is blah, but you can tell if you like the music. Plus side here is that even if at some point someone determines that it's illegal to download tunes from them, you haven't downloaded anything, so you're (probably - IANAL) within the law. And, your $10 traffic subscription lasts forever if you don't download.
Unfortunately, you're limited to what's in their catalog, but it's a fairly decent selection.
Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
Use SoulSeek .... there is a Linux soulseek client named Nicotine which runs very well and makes me a happy downloader again.