My opinion:

The 25% drop in sales has somthing but not everything to do with illegal downloads, its partly down to the fact that the music industry are a bunch of w**kers and people are tired of shelling out cash for the mind numming pap which is currently on release. If theyd actually promote some real bands instead of the sh*te they make up and photocopy band to band then they might find people actually getting excited about music again and buying.

As for the pay sites, theyre all very well but what happens if your machien dies, youve spent £300 to get 300 tracks for your ipod then some c**t nicks it... no thanks...

Not only that. Record labels have been cutting artists from their contracts. So, less artists means less music which means less choice so you have to spend all the money on a tiny amount of crappy bands. Also, singles cost 4 - 5 quid! You can buy the whole album in the shops (ASDA and the like) for 9 bucks. Rip off. I for one am very tired of it and spend money on 5 bucks dvd's. At least you usually know if you like the whole film.

I could rant on forever. Always having this discussion in the office. They call me a theif and I point out I spend more than anyone on cinema and dvd's so how can that be bad?

Don't know anything about the legal sites I am afraid.  Don't know anyone who uses them.

i owuldnt bother, any credibility in the music singles chart was highlighted by the crazy frog, if that an get to number one when coldplay release their new single, you realise just who is buying singles and therefore how much of a waste of time it is, cant finish ranting, work to do, i will be back on this subject

bloody work getting in the way of my forum posting!

if music is the food of love...why dont rabbits play guitars?

Turn out Peanut sounding sh*te then only monkeys will buy it ...crazy frog can kiss my white ass.....they should ban anyone under 21 buying cds tbh .... fecking useless boy band sh*teeeee and girlband crap all the bloody same . You have to sift through so much sh*t in order to get the odd piece of real music ... sad state of affairs .

the isp logs everything you do and will know what you have downloaded.

and also isp's have no quarms with disclosing the info to police or even just music industry big cheeses if they think it will avoid them getting sued.

basically the riaa etc threaten to sue the isp unless they take it up with their client.

hmmm have tried to find info about it but anyhoo, havent got something to back it up, but i still believe they can disclose the information without warrant under certain circumstances.

but cant be arsed to argue when i dont have something to back it up, ill be back if i find something tho!

basically i think its to do with the DPA saying data held by a controller can be released if it is for the aprehension or prosecution of offenders of criminal law or for the collection of taxes.

afaik, the ISP doesn't have to disclose the info, and if the ISP refuses, then whoever is chasing it does have to get a warrant yes.

 i wasnt arguing that, i was arguing that some ISPs will disclose without a warrant. basically because they know if there is evidence of the client breaching criminal law, a warrant would be granted anyway.

i think...