Tuesday, May 31, 2011

CNET's "Piracy Adventure Land" the "Cnet Music Center"



Please be Patient, and Check ALL these postings often. We are sorting out over 20,000 Screen captures representing thousands of research hours. The history of CNET/CBS Interactive promoting Piracy software is staggering. Over 1,000 different software offerings, Several hundred instances of mentioning copyright infringing uses, often with known copyrighted songs or famous band names. Although some of these pages are ten years old, you must remember that CNET has been distributing LimeWire software since at least February 2001.

We have substantial evidence going right up until the year 2011. Moreover, just since CBS bought CNET, they have distributed over 50,000,000 downloads of LimeWire alone! Over 250,000,000 downloads of LimeWire in Total.
Please, keep in mind as you review this evidence, "What was CNET's Intent?"


CNET Downloads PC Audio Landing Page Aug 1 2001
• Audiogalaxy Instructional Video
• Gnotella Review Featured on the Front Page

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZE VIEW!


CNET Music Center File Sharing Smackdown FEATURED! August 1 2001

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN VIEW



The CNET "Music Center" Page, was on CNET.com, one of the "Most Visited Sites" on the Internet! Think of the "Search Engine Results" that would have been drawn by so MANY live links related to "Music" and "MP3". (See the Page again Below).

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A SUPER SIZED VIEW!



CNET Music Center Featuring an MP3 Insider "File Sharing Smackdown" using REAL Known Copyrighted Bands & Famous Recording Artists on the Front Page.
This one is from August 1 2001. ( There were several!)
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A LARGE FULL SCREEN VIEW!


Still Live as of June 3 2011
Featuring these Artists and Bands as "Test Subjects". Can you spot a few that Likely have Copyrighted Material?
Britney Spears, The Strokes, Mogwai, Beatles, Run DMC, Stravinski, Leonard Bernstein, Randy Newman, Megadeth, Metallica, Pixies, Radiohead, American Analog Set, Miles Davis , Johnny Cash, Yo La Tengo, Rodan and Delgados.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A LARGE SCREEN SIZE VIEW!
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020828-1.html
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A LARGE SCREEN SIZE VIEW!
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020828-1.html




To view the complete CNET MP3 Insider "File Sharing Smackdown" article, you needed to click yet another link. ( These file sharing readers were suckered into millions of page views)
http://web.archive.org/web/20010912201731/http://music.cnet.com/music/0-1652424-8-6699285-2.html


CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULL SCREEN VIEWING
Archive.org, The Internet Wayback Machine Link

MP3 Insider, File Sharing Smackdown Posting Date 7/27/2001
Senior Editor Eliot Van Buskirk

In offices, dorms, and other high-bandwidth communities around the world, people are talking about which file-sharing service they like the most, now that Napster and Scour have been sued into irrelevance.

CNET Music Center's copy editor Brian Satterfield and I hunkered down to run a simple yet effective test on the top eight file-sharing applications. We ran searches for 18 band names using each of these clients, all of which are flourishing in the absence of Napster. According to CNET Download.com, the eight most popular file-sharing programs are: Gnotella, KaZaa, LimeWire, BearShare, Gnucleus, Audiogalaxy, MusicCity Morpheus, and WinMX.


I have carefully researched the Inline Links in the Above CNET "MP3 Insider" "File Sharing Smackdown" test. I have found the original linked pages as they appeared at the time on the "Internet Wayback Machine". I have reproduced those direct links below.

First Inline link was the word "Scour" It links directly to the Scour Office Assets Bankruptcy auction at Bankruptcy specialists; Cowan Alexander.

"now that Napster and Scour have been sued into irrelevance"

Scour Bankruptcy Auction ( Scour is Auction 11 near Bottom)

"we couldn't include Aimster in our testing,"

The Aimster Inline Line goes to the CNET Download.com Aimster Software download page;


"OK, enough of my nattering, on to the results chart."

The inline link "Results Chart" directs to the Results Chart for the "MP3 Insider File Sharing Smackdown" Date 7/27/2001


"the edge to Gnotella. It returned tons of results,"

On the Test Chart Page, the Inline linked word "Gnotella" directs to this Page "CNET Music "Find Music" "How To" Guide "Use Gnotella to Search Gnutella";


"The same goes for the folks who thought it was such a good idea to stamp out Napster"

The inline linked word "Folks" Directs Here, The RIAA's Website.




CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULL SCREEN VIEWING

Archive.org The Internet Wayback Machine Link

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULL SCREEN VIEWING


Archive.org The Internet Wayback Machine Link


I have included the extra links to show just how much traffic these Software offerings brought to the rest of CNET's Site. AND to potential Affiliate sales.

Actual Music Center Landing Page on August 1 2001

"Play Music" Link

"Organize Your Music"

"Find Music"

"Create Music"

"All Reviews"

"Top 5 MP3 Players"

"CD R/RW Drives"

"MP3 CD Players"

"Portable MP3 Players"

"Napster" inline word link goes directly to Napster CNET Download.com Page Aug 6 2001

Gnotella Link under Feature Goes to the CNET Download.com Gnotella Download Page

Gnotella "Hand Crafted" "Tutorial Link" goes here to a CNET Gnotella Tutorial

The Link "More MP3 Search Tools" Brings you HERE to the CNET Downloads top "MP3 Finders"

SongSpy Inline Link goes here to the Song Spy CNET download page

Link from word "POPULAR" at the top of page links to The "CNET Download.com's Most Popular Titles in PC Audio" Morpheus, KaZaa, Audiogalaxy, LimeWire, Gnotella, BearShare Etc.

Link from Word "PICK" Means the CNET Editor's top Picks! Today's Top Cnet Editors Pick is BearShare

The Live Link to the word "New Releases" are CNET's Newest Music Software Releases

MP3 Search Tools goes to the "File Sharing" Software. Notable three new versions of Bearshare.

Peer to Peer Exchanges Court Advisers Adware Spyware Cnet News August 2 2001



"Music News"( Hint, it's NOT about Hot new Bands and Recording Artists), Link goes here;

"Electronic" goes here;


CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZED VIEW
http://web.archive.org/web/20010623002223/http://music.cnet.com/music/0-1566076-7-4652393.html


The Link and Front Page story that Took the reader to the "Get Started with Audiogalaxy Satellite" Guide.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZED VIEW!
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN VIEW
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN VIEW




CNET's "Music Center" was the "Music Piracy Treasure Map"

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZED VIEW




======================================================================

Another part of how CNET started Piracy! CNET Music Center ran a FREE MP3 Search Engine!


The "Top One Hundred Searches" Link still works Just fine.
( Notice the search bar below the top 100 results is "Pre-set to search for MP3's)


Now Click the ARTISTS Names and see Live DOWNLOAD LINKS embedded in the Search Results. ( The "Internet Wayback Machine" Crawler hit those Links to the top One Hundred Searches and Preserved the ACTUAL RESULTS for that day)

You didn't even need to leave the CNET MP3 Search.com search results page to download the songs. Simply right click to download! You didn't need to even leave the CNET page to download 100's if not thousands of songs as fast as your connection could manage. No Napster or file-sharing needed. No going to pop-up infested websites!

The Links blow still work fine! Just about every known recording artist showed up in the Cached "Internet Wayback Machine" Pages!!

Madonna

Shaggy

Gorillaz

Linkin Park

U2

Faith Hill

Nelly Furtado

Jennifer Lopez

Look at the tops of the results pages, They were grouped by "Fastest Sources"

NOW, One could argue that it was a "Dumb" search engine that blindly picked up MP3 + Britney and gave the results. That actually would be JUST FINE.

Except
A. It was "Pitched" as a "Free MP3 Music Finder" by CNET


QUOTE BY CNET EDITOR: "This one's a no-brainer; just query search engines with terms such as Beatles MP3, and you'll return lots of results, although most will be either irrelevant or unavailable. To make this slightly easier, CNET has put together its own MP3 Web search service, which lets you search directly on 11 different Web-based MP3 sites."

And these are those "11" different MP3 Websites; ( As the RIAA Shut them down one after another, New ones were simply added)

B. The instructions gave a specific copyrighted song as an example "Beck's Loser"



C. The "MP3 Finder" Search Engine landing page had "Preset Artists" to Click.
Those pre-set artists were "U2" "Madonna" "Britney Spears", Known Copyrighted Artists.

This persisted for 5 years from 2000 until 2005 as evidenced by the Links to the "internet WayBack Machine below"


CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. October 31, 2001

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. August 6, 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. October 4, 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. December 7, 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. February 10, 2003

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. December 4, 2003

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. February 12, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. April 4, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. October 10, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. December 4, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. December 8, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. February 6, 2005

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. March 5, 2005



CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZED VIEW


http://web.archive.org/web/20010801154358/http://music.search.com/top

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN SIZED VIEW!


At the Bottom of the "CNET Get Started With "Hotfile" Page

Next Steps
"From Gnutella to Scour Exchange, we've got all sorts of file-sharing tips for you in the Find Music section of CNET Music Center."

Click the "Find Music" Link to go HERE! To CNET's Official "Find Music" resource Guide Page! LOL!


NOW! Look for the "Search for MP3's" Field and click the "Top 100 MP3 Searches LINK"


You will see "TOP 100 Searches Week Ending July 29, 2001", NOW, Click on Madonna!

STILL rolls over to the Original Cached Madonna Search Results, LOL!!!


"3pmmp3.com" rolls to this for the first :Madonna Like a Prayer" ( Tries to Start Instant Download, but no longer Functions)


"EMP3 Finder" Rolls over Here for Madonna "Like a Prayer"



CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches Nov 8 2001

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. December 1, 2001

CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches December 16 2001

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. October 31, 2001

CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches January 24 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. February 13, 2002

CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches June 1 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. June 6, 2002

CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches August 2 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. August 6, 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. October 4, 2002

CNET's Search.com Top 100 Searches Oct 19 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. December 7, 2002

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. February 10, 2003

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With U2 Britney Spears and Madonna as Preset Searches. December 4, 2003

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. February 12, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. April 4, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. October 10, 2004


CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. December 4, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. December 8, 2004

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. February 6, 2005

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. March 5, 2005

CNET's Search.com Music "Search MP3's With "U2" "MP3" "Music" "Britney Spears" and "Madonna" as Preset Searches. March 5, 2005


CNET's Search.com MP3 Search March 2 2007 as Close to today as I can Find
No Longer has Madonna, U2 Britney Spears Etc.

CNET's Seacrh.com "Music Guide"
QUOTE: "How to get the best results from Search.com's Music Channel"
Find MP3s faster
MP3 files are hidden on computers all over the Internet, but very often the files have disappeared by time you find links to them. Top-ranked MP3 searches like Simon1, Oth.net, Astraweb, and 2look4.com find music that other engines miss. Search.com puts the best results from all these sources into one list of links. To find MP3s faster, select the MP3 checkbox in the Music channel before you type your query. Here's how we found the Beck song 'Loser':



Link to CNET's Music Center goes HERE

Posted by OneCandleintheDark at 4:10 AM 7 comments
Labels:

Monday, May 30, 2011

CNET fueled the "Internet Piracy Phenomenon" BEFORE Napster was Created



Please be Patient, and Check ALL these postings often. We are sorting out over 20,000 Screen captures representing thousands of research hours. The history of CNET/CBS Interactive promoting Piracy software is staggering. Over 1,000 different software offerings, Several hundred instances of mentioning copyright infringing uses, often with known copyrighted songs or famous band names. Although some of these pages are ten years old, you must remember that CNET has been distributing LimeWire software since at least February 2001.

We have substantial evidence going right up until the year 2011. Moreover, just since CBS bought CNET, they have distributed over 50,000,000 downloads of LimeWire alone! Keep in mind as you review this evidence, "What was CNET's Intent?"




To my reader,

The exchange of "Shared Music" through the internet did not start with the birth of the Napster File Sharing Program, it began quietly, years earlier.

Music files had been posted on online News Groups for download, bulletin boards, or FTP sites for years. Anyone over 30 remembers the days of IRC ( Internet Relay Chat), Hotline and USENET, all places where you knew could find songs ( Viruses too!). Of course CNET promoted and instructed those heavily in the 90's too before true P2P file sharing began.


However, up until CNET's offerings, only real internet "geeks" or "enthusiasts" knew the secrets of how to use these otherwise mystifying resources.

CNET QUOTE: Before Kazaa, Morpheus, and even Napster, Usenet newsgroups served as the file-sharing network of choice on the Internet. Even as people quizzically pecked their first HTTP into a Web browser, thousands of digital treasures could be found on newsgroups.

NewsGroup Help Guide to File Sharing

CNET Review of 5 FTP ( File Transfer Protocol) Clients 10/14/ 1999
CNET's FTP Clients were ALL expensive PAID Downloads!
CNET top ten FTP Sites
When Napster was first introduced to users by CNET Download.com, it was described in comparison to FTP file transfers of music! Almost all the later P2P software, Scour, Audiogalaxy, iMesh, LimeWire, Morpheus, Grokster, KaZaa and others were compared to Napster as a gauge of performance.

CNET NAPSTER QUOTE: Napster is a search engine that allows you to find and download MP3 audio files. It eliminates the problems of conventional FTP transfers by using cutting-edge technology to ensure the completion of each MP3 download".

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE TO FULL SCREEN VIEW!


Here is a later review of "File Sharing Software" on ZDnet ( division of CNET) describing specifically FTP and IRC being used to procure Copyrighted Songs before Napster.

Click on ANY IMAGE for a Full Screen View
Other Archived Pages from the "Internet Wayback Machine" used for the above ZDNET Feature Article promoting open Piracy with LIVE links to the software offerings described. Read these and ask yourself, "What was ZDnet's Intent?"


CNET began in 1993-94 with Download.com added in early 1996, and by 1998 CNET had grown into one of the world's most visited websites. It's difficult to imagine now, just how popular CNET was in the mid to late 1990's. They had live streaming video! They had live radio broadcasts! Big stuff in dial-up modem days! . . . . .And CNET had software downloads that were syndicated to some of the biggest web portals of the day.

CNET was reported by the Ziff Davis Free ECommerce Encyclopedia in 2000, to have had a monthly average traffic flow of 9.5 million unique viewers internationally just BEFORE the CNET/ZDNET merger. A lot of traffic in the pre-broadband internet dial-up stone age.

Click the Image below to see those details. ( Source; Ziff Davis 2000)

Now why is that Important? Because CNET was one of the PRIMARY distributors of the ICQ instant message/chat software. This ICQ "Instant Messaging" software spread like wildfire across the early internet. Not only could a user have various Live Chat and Message choices, but the system allowed one to one "FILE SHARING".

( Below, an actual "Internet Wayback Machine" link to original 1999 ICQ Page Demonstrating File Sharing)
http://web.archive.org/web/19990911023911/http://www3.icq.com/icqtour/advanced/events.html


Just this ONE version of ICQ had 77 Million Downloads from CNET's Download.com before the CNET/ZDNET Merger. CNET had an estimated 9.5 Million unique visitors worldwide per month at that time?

Ask yourself this question,"Was a substantial amount of CNET traffic simply people coming to download the ICQ Software?" CNET really owes it's early success and popularity to ICQ software more than anything else.
Click to Enlarge the Image Below!

The "File Sharing" in ICQ was originally intended to be used for pictures or greeting card type messages.

Some ICQ users noticed, ( As well as CNET Staff), that the new MP3 Music Format with small file sizes could be sent through the ICQ file sharing system just FINE on "Dial-Up" phones. Since those ICQ users were coming to CNET for Updates to the ICQ software, it was a new market for MP3 Listening Software, CD Ripping Software, etc.

Cnet went on to not only distribute at LEAST 200,000,000 downloads of ICQ, but also over 250,000,000 downloads of LimeWire, 325,000,000 downloads of KaZaa, over 130,000,000 downloads of iMesh and more than 100 others for a total exceeding 1.2 BILLION Downloads of Notorious Piracy Software.



Copyright Law issues surrounding the internet were already well known to the CNET Staff. Look at this "Copyright Quiz" from 1997 ( Courtesy of the "Internet Wayback Machine").


All these ICQ software downloaders were coming for ONE THING the ICQ software, and CNET needed a way to keep them on Site and to keep them coming back for more.

In 1998, CNET began to feature articles dedicated to the Wondrous MP3 Music Format and how to find these MP3's for free. how you can get in on the action! Now they could offer WinZip, CD ripping software, MP3 capable audio PC software, DRM removal software, MP3 Players and everything else needed to facilitate getting those files created, acquired, sent or finally enjoyed.

Look at this page of "Top Downloads of the Week" from CNET's Download.com Jan 16 1998. ( Courtesy of the "Internet WayBack Machine")


Now look at THIS Download.com page just a couple years later in 2002


CNET was the trusted resource to learn "How-To" do things on your "Mysterious Computer." ICQ brought the n00bs to CNET's download.com, then these wide eyed kids were lured by the siren's song of free music just like flies to honey. CNET is where they learned what an MP3 was, and discovered the magical world of "File Sharing".

At the time, as I recall, approximately 22 percent of the Daily Web Traffic visited CNET.

Some people have remarked to me that there were other sources for the file sharing software besides CNET.

But you must remember that CNET's Download.com was the "Internet Software" "Walmart" of the Day. With all those ICQ download seekers bringing tens of millions of page views each month. I must mention that MOST ICQ users were young impressionable teens!

Every other internet software "download site" in the 1990's seemed scary. We have ALL seen those even today!

"Will I Get a Virus by downloading a program from "Krazy Kyle's EZ Download Shak"? "Will they steal my Credit Card Number"?

This slogan appeared on CNET's Download.com for YEARS;





CNET built up Download.com as a source of carefully checked software before it was offered to the public. Download offerings that were extolled by trusted "Editor's Reviews", guaranteed to be tested as free from viruses and dangerous trojans! CNET promoted Download.com's reputation of trust, and safety.

And after a user has downloaded the software, CNET offers free online guides and fresh faced, smiling CNET Editors in professionally produced, video software reviews and tutorials. CNET has numerous on-site software Q&A forums, often moderated by identified CNET staff, to answer any questions or concerns. CNET also thoughtfully offers Live call in Video and Radio shows to dispense knowledgable trusted guidance in all software matters and concerns.

CNET reported the news about File Sharing DAILY! CNET created reviews with real KNOWN Copyrighted Materials. Cnet offered trusted advice about which "File-Sharing" software to switch to next, as the RIAA was suing companies like Napster, Scour, iMesh, Audiogalaxy, out of the Piracy business.

Cnet choose to offer and distribute P2P software to bring incredible web traffic and profits! After the "Dot Com" bubble burst, CNET hemorrhaged money. The viewers brought to CNET by the P2P software was the traffic that likely saved CNET from "Cratering" like so many "Dot Com" tragedies; "Pets.com", Excite.com", etc.


Read THIS report from early 2002, CNET was laying off at least 10 percent of it's workforce and had crippling losses of 10's of millions of dollars.


Now look at this next CNET Download.com page from the same time period as the previous "Doom and Gloom" article. Remember that one I showed you earlier?

You'll see 5 million downloads in ONE WEEK, just from downloads of 5 File Sharing offerings; Kazaa, Morpheus, iMesh, BearShare and Xolox ALONE!


( Don't forget, in the "Free eCommerce Encyclopedia" excerpt shown earlier, that Ziff Davis reported that CNET had an average of 9.5 million UNIQUE visitors a Month, just 16 months before the week reported in this Audio Downloads page).

Cnet quickly created "Music Center" pages, a new section to feature "Music & Audio" Software and "Personal Audio , mostly MP3 gear review section"



The most popular file sharing applications, LimeWire, Kazaa, etc were shuffled from "Internet Search Utilities" to the category "MP3 Search tools" were the genre remained at least until late 2008.

Now that you have an idea about the history of File Sharing as it relates to CNET, please read the CNET MP3 FEATURE Article below!

As you view each new piece of evidence, ask yourself, "What was the Intent of this CNET review or article?" CNET is a Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation, not "Idealistic Teens" or "Radical College Students".

Billion Dollar Corporations like CNET don't champion the rights of users to "File Share" unless a big bag of money is attached.


It started EARLY, even before THIS November 1997 feature promoting MP3's with specific talk of using this format for music piracy. (First Link "Power Downloader's Archives" to show the true article date)

Next Link is Actual Page below that was crawled by the "Internet Wayback Machine" in 1998 even though the article had been posted in November 1997.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE GREATLY!
Notice Power "Recommends" two "Legal Sites";
QUOTE: "But here's the "BUT...": it also means that unsavory characters can lift copyrighted songs from a CD, encode them in MP3 format, and then send them on their illegal way through the Net. This, faithful flock, is very naughty. If you're going to seek out MP3 files, avoid the sketchy sites and download files only from archives that came by them legally. Try starting with the Freebop live-jazz workshop and MP3 Central, two legal download sites."

Alas, the "Internet Wayback Machine" never crawled the First Link to the "Freebop Live Jazz Workshop" HOWEVER, the link to MP3 Central WAS Archived! Look what you find there! ( Remember, this is 1997, two years BEFORE Napster!)
Whoa, guess "Power Downloader" was under the influence of some "Kryptonite". But "Power Downloader overlooked some "Other" Pages too!
( Link Above) Start at the page BOTTOM! Look at "Wanted" and "Personal Collection" Start clicking links! Lots Still work just fine to the original crawled pages at the time. The "Internet Wayback Machine Archive" is AMAZING! as CNET has said MANY TIMES regarding file sharing "Sharing is Caring"!

CLICK ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN VIEW!




The next CNET article, just below, was published in March 1999, months before Napster's birth! This will show you how CNET was promoting Piracy before anyone ever knew it existed. What is CNET really saying in those first few lines?


"CNET's MP3 Essentials"

By CNET staff
(3/23/99)

"If you love music and you're not hip to the MP3 beat, you're missing out. The next audio revolution is right outside your front door, or rather, right in front of your face.
The Net is the ultimate music resource--thanks to the burgeoning technology MP3. Short for MPEG 1, Audio Layer 3, MP3 is a digital audio format for quick-downloading files that sound almost as good as CDs. With an MP3 player, you can listen to free or very cheap music that you download from the Web. With a ripper and an encoder, you can create your own MP3 files from CDs that you own. Then you can transfer the MP3 files into a portable player and take the music with you anywhere you go."

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE GREATLY!
http://web.archive.org/web/19991127213945/http://home.cnet.com/internet/0-4004-7-274644.html?

REMEMBER: CNET is a Billion Dollar Corporation! CNET is not that "Cool Guy" that tells you it's okay to download music. This is a Billion Dollar Corporation engaged in a big money making venture. Think about that, and look at the NEXT part of this article published months before anyone knew what Napster or MP3's were.

CNET QUOTE: "But before you tune in to MP3, you'll need some software. We rounded up a virtual Circuit City's worth of MP3 downloads: players that let you listen to MP3s, search tools that help you find the MP3 files you want, rippers and encoders that let you make MP3 files from your own music collection, and, finally, all-in-one suites that let you do all of the above. Plus, we've even got MP3 downloads just for Mac users."

"If you want your MP3 now, read on."

MP3 Search Tools

CNET QUOTE: "Search tools take much of the drudgery out of hunting down MP3s."




The Net is brimming with MP3 audio files, but finding them can be a chore. Though the number of Web-based MP3 search engines is growing, real MP3 diggers need something stronger--software that scours the Net for music files.


Here are the MP3 "Search Tool" Recommendations of the CNET Staff, Four Months before Napster was Born;


MP3 Fiend "MP3 Search Tool"

(Patrick Sarnowski)
MP3 Fiend's reliability, performance, and simplicity make it our top pick in the search arena. Using simple keyword searches, MP3 Fiend queries 11 major MP3 search engines and returns a comprehensive list of results. It will even verify your search results to weed out dead links and work with automatic download managers such as GetRight or GoZilla to fetch the files. Plus, it's stable, easy to configure, and best of all, free.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE!

( Downloaded at LEAST 367,000 times, that's just up until December 12, 2001 from CNET's Download.com)
Linked to the TroubleShooting Guide RIGHT on MP3FIEND.com



Another CNET Recommendation 4 Months before Napster was Released;

Mp3Leech 98 "MP3 Search Tool"


(Entropy Software)
With Mp3Leech at your side, you can simply type in the name of an artist, band, or song name, and the program will zap back a list of available MP3 files that meet your criteria. You can then retrieve files right away or schedule downloads for a later time.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE GREATLY


( Downloaded at LEAST 135,623 times, that's just up August 28 2002 from CNET's Download.com)
The Next CNET Recommended MP3 "Procuring" device;

Abe's MP3 Finder "MP3 Search Tool"

(Abe's Software)
In addition to MP3 searching capabilities, this program features support for GetRight to resume interrupted HTTP downloads, and HTTP link checking to verify the status of search results. One minor caveat: in order to download MP3s from FTP sites, you'll need to have CuteFTP installed on your system.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR A FULL SCREEN VIEW

(Downloaded at LEAST 1,040,335 times, that's just up until Nov 17, 2001, from CNET's Download.com)
The Next proud CNET MP3 Gathering recommendation MONTHS before Napster Premiered;

Planet.MP3Find (Planet Group)
Via a Windows Explorer-like interface, this program shows you what's available at a particular FTP site before initiating a connection to the site.


( Downloaded at LEAST 161,600 times, that's just up until June 17 2001 from CNET's Download.com)
MP3 Wolf "MP3 Search Tool "
(Trellian Software)
In addition to MP3s, this 'bot can also find MIDI and WAV files, as well as related FTP sites and resource links. It can even learn and map out the network, and thereby become better at locating files with each use. Search results appear in your Web browser.


(Downloaded at LEAST 25,200 times, that's just up until Oct 6 2000 from CNET's Download.com)
Who Knew that CNET openly promoted the downloading of free MP3 songs on the internet LONG before Napster Appeared?


MP3 Voyeur 1.2 "MP3 Search Tool"

(Jawed Karim)
Unlike other MP3 search tools that scour the Net for MP3s, MP3 Voyeur scans local area networks (LANs). While this difference no doubt limits search range, it also gives MP3 Voyeur a distinct advantage: it never comes up with a dead link. Every MP3 file it finds is actually sitting on another computer somewhere on the network, and you can either play a file directly from the host computer or open the file's source folder and copy it to your own computer.


(Downloaded at LEAST 185,892 Times, that's just up until June 8 2004 from CNET's Download.com)
This blog will have several HUNDRED examples like this, but most are far worst. I'll present this evidence to you, so you may to decide what the intent of CNET was.


CNET was the conduit for well over a billion software downloads, 325 Million of Kazaa, 220 Million of LimeWire, 125 Million of Morpheus, not to mention hundreds of millions of downloads promoted openly for pirated copyrighted music. CNET promoted all of the original notorious piracy versions of Napster, Scour, Bearshare, iMesh, Grokster and over 200 others. CNET fueled and ignited the "Internet Piracy Phenomenon."



The CNET division of CBS Interactive, distributed the notorious LimeWire right up to the very day the Federal Judge ordered LimeWire closed, then CNET / CBS Interactive kept distributing LimeWire Clones like FrostWire and LuckyWire to keeping the LimeWire system alive. Right up until 2011.

Published Tests on CNET persist to this day using REAL KNOWN COPYRIGHTED Artists as test subjects to judge the effectiveness of LimeWire against other P2P software.

Here's JUST ONE!

CNET's Download.com was the "Cradle of Internet Music Piracy". The P2P Software tools were doled out like Halloween Candy, with endless advice and actual published reviews by CNET Staff Members downloading copyrighted songs, such as Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" as test subjects.



A veritable "Internet Piracy Bootcamp" for minor children as young as thirteen years old!
(CNET Download.com's minimum age to join and download.) Minor children lured into piracy by the persuasive writings of CNET Staff members. "Real Screen Shots" posted on CNET as examples of the downloadable software in use, clearly showing copyrighted material.

ZDNET actually posted their "Music Section" on their Video Game Website "Gamespot.com" ( Look at the URL in the next image, (Click to Enlarge to full screen view, totally worth it dude. )


Online music downloading is as old as the Internet, but it was CNET that opportunistically gave P2P activity a corporate veneer of respectability. Piracy was packaged and presented as a tasty confection to the gullible daily masses of everyday families and kids. Dubious software shilled to every country in the world with more than just a "Nudge, Nudge"; Wink, Wink". . . . . . . .
(Refer to this LIVE review on CNET/CBS Interactive today: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020828-1.html )
Shenanigans earning untold Millions of Dollars, that continued onward unabated underneath the shadows cast by the "Trusted" banner of CNET/ CBS Interactive.

Remarkably, CNET actually recommended some of these as alternate search sources to Kazaa and Morpheus ( Using Downloadable Software of Course)

Another CNET Editor speaks about Napster compared to the "Sharing" capabilities of ICQ years before.( ICQ was a Chat, Messaging and File Sharing System). Note: CNET Distributed over 50,000,000, yes FIFTY MILLION, downloads of ICQ before Napster, Kazaa or LimeWire ever existed. Over 200 million total.

ICQ FileSharing info Page from 1999 ( All Internet Wayback Machine Links)

CNET Help Center

FTP How-Tos and Tips

Use FTP to find mp3 files

ICQ Help Center

IRC Help Center

MP3 "Help" Center"

MP3 Beginners Center

CNET Message Boards
Music Forum

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Posted by OneCandleintheDark at 7:52 AM 15 comments
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