Free Republic

Test your internet connection speed and post it here, for fun, bragging rights and to see if you are getting the speed you really pay for.

For those of you complaining justifiably about the RIAA and the record company's miserable business plan: there is at least one company that gets it right. This is Linn Records which offers high quality non-DRM CD's and downloads from excellent artists. FWIW, here is what they have to say about their business plan:: There are lots of reasons for a record label to enter the download market directly. Our reasons include; Increase our distribution globally - by making our catalogue available for download the entire world that has access to computers can enjoy our music without having to rely on...

Major studios charge Google suggested keywords such as 'bootleg movie download,' and 'pirated.' Search engine execs pledge reform. Internet search leader Google is facing criticism from major media companies for reportedly working closely to help two Web sites accused of film pirating. The Wall Street Journal reported that Brandon Drury and Luke Sample, who are accused of promoting film piracy in a suit brought by major film studios, got significant support from Google between 2003 and 2005. The two men had Web sites - EasyDownloadCenter.com and TheDownloadPlace.com - which the paper said enabled users to search for movies on the...

I have a buddy who was telling me about ALLOFMP3.COM, a download site that has dubious legitimacy in Russia. It's service is available to users here in the United States. I'd like to forward the discussion on this forum and get an opinion from FReepers on their take on this site. Legal or not? What are the implications for the users?Here is some of what I have gathered in my research on the current debate:10/06/2006 - AllofMP3 Becomes Major Chip in US, Russian Discussions As Russia pushes for entrance into the World Trade Organization, the controversy regarding AllofMP3.com threatens to...

Weird Al has a new album out and he has a couple of songs that are really great. One of the better ones (IMHO)is Don't Download This Song. Very funny. The other is White and Nerdy, which, I believe, has already been posted. This to is one of his best ever. Weird Al rules!!!

Google has expanded its controversial book search service (PC World Article, external link) to allow people to download whole copies of books in PDF format to their computers, with the ability to print them out. The feature will go live Wednesday at the service's Web site, said Adam Smith, group product manager of Google Book Search and Google Scholar. The books available for download will only be those that are in the public domain and thus not protected by copyright, Smith said. Until now, people have been able to read these public-domain books on the Google Book Search Web site,...

Free Software? Perhaps you've heard of the Open-Source software movement, but thought maybe they were cheap, college-student-written, "Brand X" knock-offs. Maybe you presumed the only people who could use such programs wore pocket protectors and broken bifocals. Or maybe you had recent experience and found the installation too confusing, with "targzs," incomprehensible "readme files," etc. The open-source movement has come of age, armed with self-extracting files, crossplaform capabilities, and extensive documentation. (That means you simply download the program, and it installs itself; it works on any operating system including, yes, Windows --not just UNIX -- and it teaches you how...

It's one more way people will be able to find their favorite TV shows without having to fire up their TVs. ABC says it will offer four of its primetime shows on its web site. The shows can be watched on the site for free for two months after their original air date. The offer includes the hits "Desperate Housewives," "Lost,” "Alias,” and "Commander In Chief." But there is a catch! The shows will include advertisements that cannot be skipped over during viewing. The offer starts next month on ABC.com.

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While doing some preliminary researching at home using the Google search engine did I quickly find out it won't let you continue the search beyond page 1. It seems to be related to a glitch in the programming where you must download a free Google Desktop in order to break the stranglehold. Marketing Pilgrim has more on this as well as a cache picture of what it looks like.

WHITE PLAINS, New York - It was Easter Sunday, and Patricia Santangelo was in church with her kids when she says the music recording industry peeked into her computer and decided to take her to court. Santangelo says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer, but the industry didn't see it that way. The woman from Wappingers Falls, about 80 miles north of New York City, is among the more than 16,000 people who have been sued for allegedly pirating music through file-sharing computer networks. "I assumed that when I explained to them who I was and...

I downloaded two packs from microsoft last night...what can I say...I was bored. I think I downloaded some of these: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB883939) Update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (KB831167) Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB896727) I cannot remember, and I dont suppose there is a way to find out what I did. Can anyone help me out. Email is my life line to the real world.

About 25 years ago, I struck up a conversation with a visionary, slouched across from me on an L.A. bus. The guy was in his early 20s, but he spoke with the wisdom of age as he addressed the digital revolution that was then in its infancy. "One day," he said, "you'll be able to have music delivered right to your home through your telephone line. It will all be done through little computer chips. All you have to do is just call up the record store and place your order." He was partly right. Today, you can receive music...

WASHINGTON - Download your "exclusive personal Constitution." And while you're at it, how about a few bucks for Senate Democrats. That is the thrust of an appeal from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued Thursday under the name of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (news, bio, voting record). "I carry a pocket-sized edition of the Constitution with me every where I go, whether I'm back home in West Virginia or speaking out on the Senate floor," it says. "Now you can, too. You can download and print the DSCC's exclusive personal Constitution." When printed, it runs eight pages. Each bears the...

Late last night, while working on a friend's laptop computer, I noticed something odd. I am posting the story here with visual evidence to see if anyone else has experienced this. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 8100 running Windows XP Service Pack 2. Among other tasks, I was stripping out his Norton 2003 Anti-Virus (which decided not to work) and installing AVG Anti-Virus software. After that was done I opened his Internet Explorer and went to Google.com and searched on "Firefox". The first result had the title "Rediscover the Web". I clicked on the link and was taken to...

It's hard to believe but to-date, Mozilla's Firefox browser has seen more than 18 million downloads. This appears to be a greater response than even Mozilla had hoped for. Many sources on the Internet are reporting that this is due to a great drive of Firefox user's missionary zeal in spreading the good word. Those people are credited with the unprecedented growth and success of Firefox 1.0. "We're going to hit 20 million downloads before the end of the month. It's a wild ride and shows no sign of slowing down. Keep spreading the word. You all are the ones...

By Gene J. Koprowski Published 1/12/2005 11:21 AM CHICAGO, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- The Web browser wars of the mid-1990s saw Microsoft devastate Netscape and the Internet Explorer emerge as the de facto standard for surfing the Web. That was not the end of it, however, experts told UPI's The Web. Like a rebel force hidden in the hills for years, remnants of Netscape have reorganized and now are moving forward with a new offensive, so to speak. They have debuted a new browser, called Firefox, which is intended to compete with Internet Explorer and win the hearts and minds...

This is a personal plea to Carlton Sherwood to allow free downloads of his documentary "Stolen Honor" to be shared by all.  I would like everyone who is undecided to see this compelling documentary.  We need to burn hundreds of thousands of VCD's and hand out at shopping malls, town squares, and share on P2P networks.  We can do much more to get people to see this than the web site www.stolenhonor.com could ever do.  100 blank CD's cost about $10, and I and my friends would be willing to spend hundreds to burn the documentary and handout in the...

Last night attempted to download Symantec/NortonAV LiveUpdate fixes and patches in preparation for SP2 loading. There were also some goofy popups from the Norton which are usually fixed with update downloads. Tried 3 times last evening (9:30 CDT-11:00 CDT) and three times this AM to get the download. Couldn't. The page would not open and the my 'incoming' monitor said that the site was not transmitting. Maybe they didn't figure all 10 million Windoze users would hit the site at once, huh?