AAAARRRRG!

Avast! One of the most wonderful parts of having a cable modem is how easy it is to be a music and video pirate. I've been playing with Limewire and Bittorrent. Limewire is simply fantastic for music. Almost any song you can think of is on there. I've downloaded several hundreds of dollars of music over the last couple of days. I really don't feel guilty about it because a) most of it is music I don't like enough or am not familiar enough with to buy, and b) as the owner of over 350 CD's, I think I've proven more than willing to purchase what I like. It's just that these days, it is nearly impossible to get a feel for a group's music from what is played on the radio.

Example: Cold Play (yea, yea; I know) has two songs that get air time. They are nearly identical. The instrumental is so close that I often confuse them when I'm in the car and paying more attention to driving than listening, until the lyrics kick in. Based only on that, I would never pay $20 or more for their album because they are obviously a one-hit wonder. Yesterday, I downloaded everything by Cold Play I could find on Limewire and was mildly impressed. I'll listen through the 20 or so songs a number of times, and may decide to purchase one or more of their albums. If it wasn't for "illegal" copies on the internet, I would have never considered buying anything. So Cold Play and whoever their label is, went from no chance in hell of selling me an album to a better-than-even chance of selling one or more thanks to the "thieves" and "pirates" that use file-sharing software like Limewire. The best part is that other than my investment in time, there is no cost to me, the band, their label, or any part of the distribution channel. I seriously think the music industry is missing out on an opportunity to rake in some cash.

I'm using Bittorrent to grab old episodes of TV shows that I've missed, which by any stretch of the law or of court cases is not a violation of anything. There is music available, but there doesn't seem to be the depth that you find on Limewire (or maybe I'm not looking in the right places). But for movies and especially TV shows, it's awesome.

Does anyone know where I can find one of those cool hats and an eye patch?