Is Kazaa Over?

from the moving-on dept

As someone who has never used Kazaa, I have no idea how its use has changed over time, but apparently, more and more users are bailing out. They're fed up with the adware, the lawsuits (which often target Kazaa users) and all the bogus files. Of course, while that might sound like wonderful news for the recording industry, it's actually much worse. Users aren't giving up on file sharing, they're just switching to other offerings that include more useful features and less annoying crap (gee, what a surprise). The article points out that the various lawsuits against Kazaa owner Sharman appear to be taking their toll as the product has been unable to keep up. However, this whole thing points to a much more important fact: users are going to keep migrating to better products that are further underground. Each time the recording industry thinks they're declaring victory, they're just making their own job harder -- and I don't just mean the job of tracking down and suing file sharing individuals. They're making it increasingly difficult to set up a system that actually embraces file sharing, while still giving them the ability to make money. They could still do it, but they've given no indication that they intend to go down that path. Instead, they seem to enjoy making things worse for themselves, because that lets them keep complaining.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Not A Music Fan, 30 Jun 2004 @ 4:37pm

    Going underground? Already there...

    With the advent of usb external hard drives, why bother going online to share?

    People can now walk around with +200gb USB2.0 hard drives, and all these files by merely hooking up and sucking away.

    Pretty soon our wireless devices will be so small and have such huge capacities that somebody will simply be riding a bus with a directory open to the world. Anyone riding the bus with them can share files back and forth.

    Napster for buses? Why not?

    Peer to peer does NOT need the internet.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2004 @ 9:00am

      Re: Going underground? Already there...

      This is why the **AA keeps pushing for federal legislation to essentially outlaw consumer recording devices, period, one step at a time.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 1 Jul 2004 @ 10:20am

        No such thing as a free lunch

        Spyware has provided me a nice little cash side business like the above mentioned writer.
        I generally get 25 - 50 dollars except in extreme cases or where other work is required.

        Theres no such thing as a free lunch ...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jeremiah, 30 Jun 2004 @ 4:41pm

    No Subject Given

    I remove a lot of spyware from the PC's of parents after their kids have installed Kazaa. Typically, they rethink how "free" Kazaa is after my $150.00 bill to clean their system.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      LittleW0lf, 30 Jun 2004 @ 5:59pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      Typically, they rethink how "free" Kazaa is after my $150.00 bill to clean their system.

      Darn Jeremiah, you get $150 to clean their computers for them...and to think all this time I've been cleaning the computers of friends and family for free! At least I have proof now that people actually make money for doing this.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Jeremiah, 1 Jul 2004 @ 12:14am

        Re: No Subject Given

        For clarity, yes I had *one* extreme case that i billed $150.00 for. Most others work out between $40-$90, however. Yes, I occasionally get paid to remove spyware.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      maxx, 4 Jul 2004 @ 1:32am

      Re: No Subject Given

      what about kazaalite++ ?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sandie, 16 Dec 2007 @ 9:07pm

    what kazaa use to be

    It was nice about 3 years ago to use Kazaa, but then, about a year later I picked up a Sven Virus from them and never went back into using them ever again. So glad I did stop, would hate to have problems with spyware. They aren't a good site to use anymore. Wish I knew of a site that was free to get all the songs you want, and safe. I am still hunting around.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.