Filesharing: What's It All About, Alfie?
Music filesharing is on the up: of that there can be no doubt. Official figures show a rapid decline in CD sales which can, commentators say, be attributed directly to the general ease with which music can be obtained, distributed, and shared on line. The figures on paid-for downloads of music are impressive enough: sales of downloads are expected to surpass sales of physical CDs as early as 2012. Figures on unofficial downloads and filesharing sharing, on the other hand, are thought to have trumped the number of both CD sales and paid-for downloads some considerable time ago.Coming onto this exciting and vibrant scene to assist people in their quest to share music and other media files is the Ares family of filesharing clients. The number of people who have decided to download Ares is staggering, and it is easy to see why.
Legality
The jury is out on the legality of music filesharing. It is a gray area for which solid legislation and precedence is currently lacking. Much of the reason behind the courts' reluctance to rule either way is that two very powerful parties stand opposed on the issue: Big Media, with all its business and political power, and The Normal Person, with his votes, and his requirements for democracy. Those in charge can afford to slight neither, and neither will back down.Filesharing in its own right, of course, is completely legal. Many people use filesharing software to share and distribute files to which they own the copyright. Sometimes the artist who created the work will explicitly ask their fans to spread the word about the music via filesharing. Other times people like to share files on which there is no copyright: think electronic copies of old books, or any material released under one of the multitude of 'Copy Left' licenses that encourage such sharing.
All of this makes the obvious push by some publishers to ban filesharing outright something of a mockery. Despite th blatant flaws in this approach, there are some moves by governments to force ISPs to inform them of any customers that are using filesharing. The plot thickens, and people now have even less certainty about where they stand.
How To Start Using Ares Filesharing Software
Fortunately for us, using Ares is easy. Just go to one of the sites that allow free ares downloads (the one I'll use in this example is www.AresVista.com) and download and install. The installation process is designed to be as quick and painless as possible, and I've never experienced an installation where things didn't go to plan. Once it's on your system simply follow the on-screen instructions to search for your favorite music (or movie, or game, or whatever) and click download. Within a few minutes (the exact time depends on the speed of your connect and the quality of the connection of the person (or people) that you're downloading from) you should have the file on your computer. From here you can either play your track in the built-in media player, or play it with whatever other audio player you have.What The Future Holds
Given the furore about the 'legality' or otherwise of filesharing (see above), the future of filesharing is a little uncertain. What is certain is that filesharing will endure in one form or another: if Ares and other filesharing applications have to change the way they work to be able to circumnavigate the various draconian controls put in place by Governments and ISPs, then they surely will. Some sites offer filesharing news which will help to keep you abreast of the various machinations of these bodies and groups.The future of anything is always going to be an exciting time, music filesharing is absolutely no different.
