simple solution - reair the show?

It seems like if you're looking for free digital downloads of the Beatles there are easier ways to get them than downloading a podcast, cutting it up to remove the announcer telling you the backstory of the song, and then saving it as an audio file.

@wickedpixel: The article discusses that option, "And even if NRK did choose to rebroadcast the series, it appears the broadcaster would have to deal with Beatles' Apple Corps, who don't seem too happy about the whole thing. "It has recently been reported that a Norwegian broadcasting company, NRK, will make Beatles music available for download via a series of podcasts. These podcasts are not authorized by Apple Corps Ltd.," the company said in a statement."

I'd suggest Googling something like '"beatles discography" filetype:torrent', but as a legal owner of all their CDs*, that's something I'd never, ever try myself.

*I don't count the Blue and Red Albums. Total ripoff.

This is nothing short of pathetic. Why is it such a big deal to be able to purchase Beatles songs online? It's something you should have been able to do YEARS ago, but thanks to the record companies' greed and laziness it's still not possible today. The record companies should have worked to put together a DRM-free online music store(s) as online music trading came about, but they decided to sit around and whine about Napster and related sites. If they had done that then they probably wouldn't have had such a problem with mainstream online music trading. Such a site didn't come until the iTunes Music Store, and that was still severely crippled. What's really sad is that downloading music off "illegal" torrent sites (and the like) gives you a better quality product than the "legal" music stores, seeing as it's DRM-free, often better quality (codecs like FLAC available), and you often have better selection. I <3 my torrent sites!

If you can't tell I have absolutely no sympathy for the record industry.

@wickedpixel: I was just going to suggest that.

Also, will NRK be fined for the past week of distributing Beatles' music online?

@scootinger: I don't either, but that's no excuse for breaking the law. Illegally downloading music is stealing. Sometimes you steal from large record companies, sometimes you steal from artists. But stealing is stealing.

I used to illegally download music, movies, and software myself. But I stopped because I didn't like thinking of myself as a thief - and that was what I was.

@GuinevereRucker: Would you think it was stealing if a friend burned you a mix tape?

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), indeed!

@hicks: If you're using firefox, make a new bookmark, with the following url: [www.google.com]

Give it a keyword, such as music. Then, all you have to do is type in your keyword and what you want to search for. In my case (I use "music" as my keyword) I would type:

music "Beatles"

Man, the music industry will never learn that they can't put they genie back in the bottle. Once it's out there, they might as well legalize it.

@krunk4ever: Fined by whom?

@GuinevereRucker: Sounds like you bought into the recording industry's rhetoric pretty seriously.

@Shadowman615: Sounds like you're a thief trying to defend your stealing :)

I didn't buy into any rhetoric, I realized I was breaking the law by stealing and wanted to stop. Believe me, I don't like the RIAA much either.

I used to justify this by saying the huge record companies didn't need my money and didn't give much to the artists blah blah blah. Those are weak arguments and only serve to make you feel a little better about your thievery.