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Grooveshark Downloader: Illegal Music Made Too Easy?

By - Source: Tom's Guide US

Grooveshark has found itself in hot waters by streaming digital music some time ago and is defending itself in a lawsuit brought forward by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

However, as far as piracy is concerned, a tool that connects to Grooveshark to download media files could be of much greater concern for the music industry as it makes illegal music downloads about as simple as the long-gone original Napster client.

SciLor's Grooveshark.com Downloader is a simple open source program with a basic, but very effective interface that offers a search, search result and download interface. Currently in beta, the interface is very fast and the downloads from Grooveshark were transferred at a rate of about 1.5 Mbps. The only downside of this particular downloader appears to be the fact that MP3 tags will have to be renamed and search results are limited to 200 tracks in each search. The music industry does not seem to be aware of streaming music downloaders at the time of this writing, the problem of such tools are clearly that, even if consumers have shown for years that they are willing to pay for music, they are convenient enough to possibly attract a decent user base.

I could not help but to remember the old Napster and the feeding frenzy that resulted from the service which enabled users around the world to download virtually any song in blazing speed. It's obvious that many users have moved on -- and perhaps have accepted to pay for their music downloads. But piracy won't die and the music industry is caught in a cat-and-mouse game to track down the latest trends in media downloads. This may be the latest trend.

There are 19 Comments. B
Top Comments
  • 17 Ð
    memadmax , November 15, 2011 11:23 AM
    There hasn't been a song worth pirating since around 2001....
  • 14 Ð
    Pailin , November 15, 2011 10:24 AM
    People are willing to pay for that which they like.

    They are not all stupid... many of us have figured out that if we like something and want more of it, we need to support the people making it.

    Does not matter the medium, we gotta show our love for it and reward the artists / movie makers bringing us such great feelings.

    One day I still think the industry will stop worrying about downloads like they did with :

    Radio
    Recordable Tapes
    Recordable CDs
    etc etc

    every new Free media medium caused panic - "my God, why will people buy when they can get it free!!!???"

    and every time we keep buying.
    Yet they feel the need to sue some granny $XKK ???? for some mp3 downloads and ruin peoples live to proove the point that they cannot see the historical trend that People Buy music / film Even when it IS Freely available.

    They need to have more faith in the people they are part of

    There will always be a few who say "why would I pay for it when I can get it for free?"
    but those people are still learning to love those around them and help the world grow and shine for us all

    A Great new future is slowly unfolding for all of us willing to partake in it
  • 11 Ð
    moonshire , November 15, 2011 12:33 PM
    People like me are willing to Pay for the music that we want. I got my wallet out, trying to pay for services such as spotify, rdio or even grooveshark. I want to use itunes, I want to buy the CDs but what? Not open to my country? /sad face. RIAA and copyright issues prevent us from using all these services! So what do we have to do then to listen to our music? Pirate it..
Other Comments
  • 5 Ð
    11796pcs , November 15, 2011 10:18 AM
    I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, I don't like to see anyone stealing music, software and movies but I also would hate to see the RIAA (who are basically the scum of the planet) win. Just from the picture, it looks like this software makes pirating pathetically easy.
  • 14 Ð
    Pailin , November 15, 2011 10:24 AM
    People are willing to pay for that which they like.

    They are not all stupid... many of us have figured out that if we like something and want more of it, we need to support the people making it.

    Does not matter the medium, we gotta show our love for it and reward the artists / movie makers bringing us such great feelings.

    One day I still think the industry will stop worrying about downloads like they did with :

    Radio
    Recordable Tapes
    Recordable CDs
    etc etc

    every new Free media medium caused panic - "my God, why will people buy when they can get it free!!!???"

    and every time we keep buying.
    Yet they feel the need to sue some granny $XKK ???? for some mp3 downloads and ruin peoples live to proove the point that they cannot see the historical trend that People Buy music / film Even when it IS Freely available.

    They need to have more faith in the people they are part of

    There will always be a few who say "why would I pay for it when I can get it for free?"
    but those people are still learning to love those around them and help the world grow and shine for us all

    A Great new future is slowly unfolding for all of us willing to partake in it
  • 4 Ð
    anonymous@guest , November 15, 2011 10:30 AM
    Er, so whats the news here? Header says Grooveshark.com was in trouble with the RIAA in the past. Then a paragraph advertises an unofficial tool to download from that website and the two about Napster. (Btw, this tool is the first google result for "grooveshark downloader" and has been around since 2009). So is the RIAA after this or what?
  • 11 Ð
    chumly , November 15, 2011 10:39 AM
    ummm... bit torrent?
  • 9 Ð
    captaincharisma , November 15, 2011 10:44 AM
    you know what is easier? bit torrent and a fiber connection
  • 17 Ð
    memadmax , November 15, 2011 11:23 AM
    There hasn't been a song worth pirating since around 2001....
  • 11 Ð
    moonshire , November 15, 2011 12:33 PM
    People like me are willing to Pay for the music that we want. I got my wallet out, trying to pay for services such as spotify, rdio or even grooveshark. I want to use itunes, I want to buy the CDs but what? Not open to my country? /sad face. RIAA and copyright issues prevent us from using all these services! So what do we have to do then to listen to our music? Pirate it..
  • -5 Ð
    de5_Roy , November 15, 2011 12:50 PM
    RIAA would sue impoverished handicapped children if they could figure out a way to squeeze money out of them.
    however tools that facilitate piracy should be stopped.
    imo grooveshark isn't at fault here, the downloader tool is the one to blame.
  • 4 Ð
    lashabane , November 15, 2011 1:00 PM
    Quote:
    I could not help but to remember the old Napster and the feeding frenzy that resulted from the service which enabled users around the world to download virtually any song in blazing speed.


    I think I was using dial-up back then. Although that was considered "blazing" for the time.

    The music and movie industry as a whole needs to catch up with the times and stop using their outdated business model.

    The only thing different between "pirating" music/movies and going over to a friends to enjoy it is that they now have a metric to base their failure off of.

    Think about it. They were not able to track who "borrowed" what before P2P came about. Now if something doesn't sell as well as they were hoping, it was the "pirates" fault.

    MW3 sells over $400,000,000 in the first 24 hours. How much were they banking on?
  • 3 Ð
    Goldengoose , November 15, 2011 4:14 PM
    A band will make more money off spreading the word of their band through illegal downloads and getting more turning up at a concert/festival. Just the record companies that are getting irate. IMO, just ignore them and they'll go away eventually.
  • 3 Ð
    enkichild , November 15, 2011 5:24 PM
    people pay for music? WOWOWOW. Humans haven't paid for music all through the centuries until now. Some people are actually deluded into believing it is the moral thing to do now days lol
  • 0 Ð
    mrmotion , November 15, 2011 8:12 PM
    I remember Napster on a 14.4 downloading an album a day! That was awesome! Playing half-life team deathmatch... Having to lead my shot against people on a 56k. LOL

    Love groove shark though and Tiny shark for my phone
  • 0 Ð
    dextermat , November 15, 2011 8:45 PM
    What is outrageous is the RIAA President Cary Sherman Made $3.2 Million In 2009

    That lots of money for those poor artists.

    Just surfing on someone else misfortune to make big bucks, but that what most CEO does anyway. Thak the CEO for scrapping the economy and blaming others.

    http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/052211riaa
  • -1 Ð
    custodian-1 , November 15, 2011 9:22 PM
    usenet!
  • 0 Ð
    Chef_Boyardee , November 15, 2011 9:46 PM
    Why would you want to download something that is already readily available? If there was a MovShark for movies, I'd be in heaven. I could care less about downloading at that point. Everything is there already.
  • 1 Ð
    srgess , November 15, 2011 11:35 PM
    Artist need to stop crying its simple making a website and download album from their site so all the profit goes really to the artist. The thief is not people downloading illegal is the label
  • 0 Ð
    anti-painkilla , November 16, 2011 3:14 AM
    srgessArtist need to stop crying its simple making a website and download album from their site so all the profit goes really to the artist. The thief is not people downloading illegal is the label


    Totally agree, if the music was cheaper and more went to the artists, i would certainly pay for more. But paying full price for an album then needing to download it. Nope.
  • -1 Ð
    f-14 , November 16, 2011 5:55 AM
    i feel this entire argument is irrelevant as you can get this music from radio and in much better quality then most mp3 purchase sites sell songs at.
    apparently somebody born after the 70's 80's and 90's does not know this moot point.
    the music and movie industry did nothing about it unless you sold the material for over 30 years.
    the fact that we have loaned friends and family our books records and videos for over hundreds of years sets precedent.
    for you snot nosed egotistical rude teenagers aka the infamous S.N.E.R.T.'s no videos and records have no existed for hundreds of years, they are approaching their first century soon enough and books have been loaned and borrowed for well over a thousand years around the world, and since the day this nation was created so you can shove that pay per use argument up that creek you have no paddles for.
    as far as i am concerned this matter was settled before laws were made regarding this.
    when something is worthy of being paid for i buy it to show my support.other wise the broadcast system would never have taken off in the first place.
    how many of you have ever paid to see the wizard of oz?
    would you have paid to see gone with the wind also?
    do you own copies of these two movies?
    they were some of the first color movies every produced and shown on television every year for decades and were paid for by advertising royalties.
    point settled , move on and get over it!
  • 0 Ð
    anonymous@guest , September 14, 2012 4:48 AM
    I am see more and more problems for Grooveshark as EMI and Warner haven't been paid for royalties to date. I think the company will be rubbed out before the end of the year. http://wontek.com/news/GrooveShark-Profitable-Piracy
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