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All of us enjoy listening to music in our favorite media players like VLC, window media player etc. Like we can get a number of media players free as they are open source and are available free of cost people believe the same about music. Many people believe that just because there is music out there, ripe for the taking that there are no repercussions in doing so. That is simply not the case, many things can happen. For starters, the term “illegally downloading music” is a bit of a misnomer. While it is illegal, it is not theft but copyright infringement which can be an important distinction. Generally speaking it is not proper to use the term theft when talking about illegally downloading as the owner of the material still retains the source and all rights to the work, only unauthorized copies are made and distributed. Some may draw parallels to plagiarism, and subsequently theft, but again this is inaccurate as the people downloading music aren’t taking credit for their work.
Regardless of how you define it, it is illegal. So, what happens when you get busted? Although it has happened generally the police don’t come break down your door and haul you off, but typically you will receive a notice in the mail, or in your email from the MPAA, the copyright holder. The letter will tell you cease and desist and that you should stop immediately or risk major fines. Some never actually get a notice and simply find themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit demanding exorbitant fees for illegally downloading music.
How are people caught? One of the most common ways is the use of large name P2P file sharing programs like KaZaa, eDonkey2k, Lime Wire and other similar variants. This software makes it easy for someone to find an IP address of a person sharing pirated content. Other applications include Bit Torrent which uses networks of people downloading the same file to share bits and pieces at an accelerated rate. After they have your IP address they can simply request your name and address from your ISP which is obligated to comply.
To stop music piracy many media players allow you to get connected to online music stores so that you could shop the music of your choice and could play it legally. Some good media players to try are: KM player which is a multi- media player having minimal desktop footprint, Media Player Classic and BS Player.