Ares Connect

Omemo has been launched for a couple of weeks now and already the new filesharing service has attracted a lot of media attention. The system is currently in Beta, but is worth downloading to see what all the filesharing fuss is about.

Omemo is easy to use – you share files by uploading them to the network and then browsing through what other people have been uploading. The filesharing interface works in your web browser and you can look through video, audio, software and images. Omemo is still fairly new so the limited number of users means that there are a limited numbers of files available for sharing.

The music downloads are easy to manage and reasonably fast. Everything is user-generated so you can create new folders and categories for files on the network, although it’s unclear how this is all regulated.

In terms of music downloads, Omemo is yet to establish itself as a real player in the filesharing world. It will take time to increase the user base, although what Omemo has at the moment is a simple program that is easy to use. There is search functionality so you can get straight down to filesharing and find what you want.

Amazon and Warner Music have teamed up to offer music downloads that come without copy protection, meaning that the files can be played on almost any digital audio device. Amazon MP3 will launch sales of these music downloads next week.

The price of the music downloads is still yet to be announced, although at the moment, Amazon MP3 sells songs for 89 or 99 cents. Amazon MP3 has been active since September and has more than 2.9 millions songs in its library. All of the music downloads are DRM-free.

This is a major step for Amazon and will add another string to the download-store’s bow. When Amazon MP3 first launched, many tipped it as an iTunes killer. Although it is yet to reach the same level as iTunes, Amazon MP3 has come close and appears to be flourishing despite the popularity of free music downloads and P2P filesharing software.

“Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it,” said Michael Nash, senior vice president, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group.

Quite right too.

The Center for Democracy and Technology has compiled a list of 30 websites that claim to offer legit music downloads, which are, in fact, not licensed distributors of the music they peddle.

These music download sites don’t offer legal music or any type of reliable service – they’re just there to take your money, like everyone else, really. Although these music download websites may resemble fully licensed services, they are not.

Here’s the list:

allcoolmusic.com
allmusicdownloads.com
e-mp3now.com
easymusicdownload.com
ezmp3s.com
free-music-downloads.cc
freeaccessmp3.com
freemusicnow.cc
howdoiwin.com/recommends/Movies
imp3download.com
imp3download.com/
imusicaccess.com
imusicsearch.com
klitetk.com
mimusicamp3.com
mp3-all-free.com
mp3-download-lyrics.com
mp3-freebie.com
mp3-freedom.com
mp3downloadhq.com/
mp3downloadnet.com
mp3downloadsnow.com
mp3favorites.com
mp3musichq.com
mp3rocket.com
musicjustfree.com
my-free-songs.com
my-music-now.com
myipodaccess.com
mymusicinc.com
netmusicaccess.com
netmusicsite.com
realmusicnow.com
unlimiteddownloadcenter.com

Sites on this list should be avoided at all costs. You are much better off using music download programs like Limewire or BitTorrent. If you’re into new gadgets, you might want to give Omemo, a new filesharing service, a quick once over. It’s one of the most interesting filesharing programs out there at the moment.

It seems like everyone is talking about the new filesharing service called Omemo. Although it’s a long way from displacing BitTorrent, Limewire and other such filesharing service from the top of the stack, Omemo, in its Beta stage, offers limited access to free music downloads.

After testing out Omemo, the number of music files available for filesharing is extremely limited, although it is growing every day. You can get straight into filesharing with Omemo after the quick installation. Once you are into the network, you can browse through the music files, choose what you want to download and grab it.

There is a search function that brings up the most popular results. The download speeds are respectable and you can share music files by uploading them to the network. It’s a new filesharing service and so it needs time to become established, but it is a step in the right direction for obtaining music downloads. There are, however, no advantages to using Omemo over Limewire other than having something new to play with.

A new filesharing program called Omemo was launched this week. Omemo works by users downloading the software and then allocating a small section of their hard drives to be used in the Omemo network. This creates a huge virtual hard drive for of material that people can then share.

This latest filesharing service is similar to other programs like Limewire and so it’s difficult to see how it will be any different to its filesharing relatives. The service is free to use and there is a lot of expectation of Omemo.

Omemo is currently in Beta and is available for free download. The program was launched on December 17 and there is very little information available about it on the net, but after a few days’ worth of testing, reports on the service will start popping up on the Internet.

Omemo is worth a try and the service is, according the developers, totally anonymous.

Filesharing fans were give something new to chew on this week with the launch of Omemo, a brand new filesharing service that will reportedly create the world’s largest hard drive. This “virtual” hard drive is the combination of all Omemo users dedicating a small percentage of their hard drives for the entire Omemo network.

Once you have set Omemo up on your computer, you are then free to download and upload anonymously over the Omemo network. This filesharing service is brand new and is only in Beta at the moment, but as more users begin to use Omemo, the number and the quality of the files available will only improve.

There is no word on how Omemo will combat rogue users who serve up corrupt and dangerous files to the network. In fact, there isn’t a whole lot of information about this filesharing service out there yet, but given time, Omemo could become a major player in the filesharing world.

It seems that every week there are American students in trouble for filesharing, but it looks like European students may also be taking some of the rap. Czech police raided a student dorm in the Prague-Strahov area recently and confiscated hordes of pirate material. Seven students were arrested and detained by police for their filesharing crimes.

The students, who are believed to be from the Czech Technical University in Prague, could be jailed for up to five years for illegal filesharing. Here’s the problem: where do you draw the line between what is socially acceptable in terms of filesharing and what is crossing that line?

Filesharing isn’t as clear cut as we often think. A 22-year-old Czech man is facing a fine of $300,000 after recording The Simpsons movie at the Czech premiere. Most people would say that recording such a movie and distributing it through filesharing is wrong – but then those same people wouldn’t have a problem with downloading and sharing a music album using P2P software like Limewire.

It would appear that the social consciousness is more willing to accept filesharing of released material. When people stray into pre-release, the waters become murky, especially when people download for profit.

We are all for filesharing in moderation. The Czech students were serial filesharers and they were distributing millions of dollars worth of material. There is a difference between that kind of filesharing and downloading a Britney album for personal use.

Where do you stand on this?

Take this news for what it’s worth, but a recent study by the NPD Group has revealed that 50% of Mac users pay for their music downloads, compared to just 16% of PC users. Mac users pay for music downloads from services such as iTunes. Mac users also came out as more likely to buy CDs than PC users.

Clearly, there is a difference between Mac users and PC users. As well as music downloads, 32% of Mac users questioned said they had bought a CD in the final quarter of 2007, compared with 28% of PC users.

Although Mac users are perhaps commendable for their online habits, these figures are still incredibly low. Only half of Mac users pay for music downloads, which means that half get their music for free from filesharing services like Ares and Limewire.

With such low figures for CD sales across the board, it will take more than an army of Mac users to revive the music industry. We say it a lot here, but the time are changing. 50 Cent recently spoke out about filesharing and said that the music industry now has to move with the times and replace the lost revenue from CD sales with income generated from touring and merchandising.

Mac users are a funny bunch, anyway.

So there is a god. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who we love dearly, finally saw sense and dropped its lawsuit against the granny who had suffered enormously at the hands of Hurricane Rita. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Christmas spirit that made the RIAA see sense in this latest filesharing lawsuit.

Granny Crain had previously claimed that she had never used filesharing services and that she had had her home displaced by the hurricane. That wasn’t enough to deter the RIAA. The case would have continued by for a counter-claim by Granny Crain that the RIAA had played dirty by sending an unlicensed investigator to snoop on the old lady.

MediaSentry, hired by the RIAA, is apparently not allowed to investigate people in Texas – not even in filesharing cases for the mighty RIAA Vs The People. The RIAA is now shaken as it could potentially lose a number of filesharing cases based on this ruling. The RIAA has likely dropped its case out of fear that if MediaSentry snooping is ruled illegal in this lawsuit, a host of other filesharing cases will fall apart – we can but hope.

Granny Crain had been accused of using the filesharing services Kazaa. Demands to settle out of court for $4,500 were rejected by the pensioner.

The RIAA also suffered a setback in a filesharing case when Tanya Andersen and her 10-year-old daughter left the RIAA on the ropes after more claims against MediaSentry investigations. The RIAA stalked and hounded Anderson for three years, but it appears that there is some justice in the world.

Yet more students have fallen foul of the RIAA’s move to outlaw filesharing. Students at Mississippi State University are the latest to be hit with the RIAA’s dreaded pre-litigation letters. The university now has “many” students who are being sued for using P2P filesharing services like Morpheus and Limewire.

The students have been given until January 5 to respond to the letters. “We simply passed on the letters to the students,” said MSU Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Bill Kibler.

What else could the university do? Students will likely be sued to the tune of $750 per file, with cases averaging between $3,000 and $5,000 – if they settle out of court. Any filesharing students brave enough to take on the music industry will most likely lose their cases and face charges of up to $50,000 per song.

Students who refuse to comply will be identified and taking to court. These students are easy to make an example of, but filesharing is not going to stop – one third of all computers have Limewire installed on them.