It doesn't take a computer hacker with special apps to steal music. Anyone who runs Windows can steal music, even if you are streaming, encoding, using special file types, whatever. I know that many individuals use special flash programs to stream music, but it still isn't safe, and here's why:

Many improfessional streaming programs acutally download the song to 'stream' it. Many of you are web-savvies, but for those of you who are not, there is a directory in Windows called "Temporary Internet Files." Now, the best streaming programs don't use that folder, but some so-called streamers actually download the file to the listener's Temp folder before playing it. Anyone who knows this can copy the file out of the Temp folder and keep it forever.

Okay, so I still don't have the real programmers fooled. If you get a good streaming program, then there's no trouble, right? Wrong. Did you know that anything played through the speakers can be recorded and saved by basic Window's utilities? That's right. Even with 'professional' streaming programs, anyone with Windows Volume Control and Windows Sound Recorder can record from their sound card. I'm not going through the motions here, but I'm sure if you Google it, you can find all the tutorials you need. The listener can then save a lossless .wav file and convert it to .mp3, .aif, .wma, or WHATEVER file type they wish.

Your audio files are NOT safe online. No matter what. Anyone who takes the time to learn can steal your music. So be smart with your music.

You're also forgetting if (I know this was the case in windows media player 10, but since converting to mac I haven't tried it with any more recent version of wmp) you use the media browser/finder thing that finds content on the web(I can't remember what its called sorry), if you have your settings correct you can access the page/s in internet explorer, and instead of clicking play you can right click and go "Save file as..."

This post has been edited by saitunes: Jul 15 2008, 09:32 AM

That is really weird. I've heard all of this before, but I never really thought about it in-depth like that. If you really wanted, you could record the sound files and not even pay a thing. The same would go for a video--you could just get out your video camera and tape it, then put the file on your computer. I guess that really shows that you can pretty much cheat your way out of anything online. I'm definitely going to be more careful with what I put on the Internet! Thanks for the update :]

I knew about the sound card recording, but I did not know about the music being downloaded part. Luckily, I don't upload much music to the Internet, and if I do I don't care if people download it. Even though it is simple to do these tricks, not everybody knows about them. Not everybody is computer savvy.

To whom is this for? Many know what they're getting themselves into, that is why many compress their work so if any illegal copying is done, you receive a bad quality sample—who can work with that? Many could care less about the work they upload. Many don't mind if their work is distributed, so long as they are attributed to the work and no one else uses it for commercial purposes.

Even if it isn't posted on the Internet, though, it still isn't "safe." There's no sure way to prevent others from distributing your work without your permission.

First off all, streaming music from the internet isn't really even allowed, unless the creator/record label agrees to it. Also, the issue with people recording the music while it is being streamed, etc. isn't really even an issue. It sounds so terrible when it is recorded, its basically pointless.

thanks God for youtube ...I can listen almost any track without a penny and with no HDD space required

Actually, streaming from youtube DOES take HDD space... Which is why I normally run CCleaner after I watch a lot of youtube videos...

But I found there is NO way to stop people from stealing you music, no matter what happens, the good ol' microphone and speaker and audacity'll do the trick...

But to prevent people from downloading it... use Flash if you're so keen...