is it legal to dwonload songs from limewire?

Answer 1

Yes, as long as they are released to the public domain.

If they are protected by copyright, and they are not licensed for free distribution, then under current law, it is illegal.

Answer 2

If the songs are covered by copyright law then it is illegal, no matter what software you use. And the RIAA has been filing lawsuits (over 20,000 so far) against people for sharing music as well as for downloading it. Legally speaking, the minimum fine is $750.00 for each song you download illegally (and the maximum is $150,000.000). Since most people can't afford to pay that much, the RIAA usually settles for around $10,000.00. Limewire itself has been sued by the RIAA for allowing its users to use their network for criminal activity. The case goes to court in May, and Limewire is expected to lose and be fined several hundred million dollars as a penalty.

Here are some articles on the subject:

http://mp3.about.com/od/isitlegal/a/riaalawsuits.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71545-0.html?tw=wn_culture_music_5
http://info.riaalawsuits.us/howriaa.htm
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061207-8379.html
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/7152.cfm
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/09/music.swap.settlement/
http://www.chillingeffects.org/piracy/faq.cgi

Answer 3

no it is not legal to download them but no one seems to care because millions use limewire. But you can not legally get in trouble for it, as long as when you download the file and unshare it, you can not get introuble because in all fairness

downloading copyrighted files is legal, uploading or sharing copyrighted files is illegal.

Answer 4

if you buy limewire pro then its legal. if yer jus using the basic one then no way its not legal.

Answer 5

nope. well..kinda, you are really not suppose to burn them.