What are these system files ?

[Pete]

Hi everyone,

Please excuse me if this is slightly off topic, but it does relate to system
files, and I am afraid to delete them (since Windows puts the warning up).
I am running xpsp2.

I have recently been trying to download some mp3 music files, and it seems
that something is adding strange files to the "My Music" folder where I
download them to (they are dated yesterday, when I was doing the
downloading). They are little pictures when you click them on. Makes no
sense to me at all. An example is "AlbumArt_{E50EF3A8-4000-4519.......}.
They are all "AlbumArt" files. I figure it must be some of the sites I am
going to, looking for free downloads - its not easy finding them as you may
know.

There are also a few of these in the subfolder "Sample Music" which are
dated 2/9/06, and I have no idea what they are either, or how they got
there.

I tried to delete them, but Windows gives me the warning that they are
system files, and my computer might not work right if I delete them, etc.
Can you tell me what these files are, and is it safe to delete them. I
would think it would be safe to delete them, but I am afraid to without
knowing for sure.

Thanks...Pete

PS - As an aside does anyone know a good site to download free "oldies" from
the 60's, 70's, 80's. It seems very difficult at best (all you get is
garbage ads, and most are not free, and if you can find a free one, they
want a "legitimate" e-mail address, and you would get junk mail the rest of
your life). Please let me know of any good sites if it's not too much
trouble. Thanks again.

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Pete' wrote, in part:
| Please excuse me if this is slightly off topic, but it does relate to
system
| files, and I am afraid to delete them (since Windows puts the warning up).
| I am running xpsp2.
|
| I have recently been trying to download some mp3 music files, and it seems
| that something is adding strange files to the "My Music" folder where I
| download them to (they are dated yesterday, when I was doing the
| downloading). They are little pictures when you click them on. Makes no
| sense to me at all. An example is "AlbumArt_{E50EF3A8-4000-4519.......}.
| They are all "AlbumArt" files. I figure it must be some of the sites I am
| going to, looking for free downloads - its not easy finding them as you
may
| know.
_____

Delete the files if you wish. However, as long as you go rummaging around
the Internet looking for 'free' copyrighted music, expect to see a lot of
strange stuff appear on your system. Such downloads are illegal, and are
likely to be associated with all sorts of malware.

You could instead subscribe to a service like Napster, $9.95 per month for
unlimited downloads, playable as long as you continue to pay the $9.95 per
month. You present month involves multiple risks.

Phil Weldon

| Hi everyone,
|
| Please excuse me if this is slightly off topic, but it does relate to
system
| files, and I am afraid to delete them (since Windows puts the warning up).
| I am running xpsp2.
|
| I have recently been trying to download some mp3 music files, and it seems
| that something is adding strange files to the "My Music" folder where I
| download them to (they are dated yesterday, when I was doing the
| downloading). They are little pictures when you click them on. Makes no
| sense to me at all. An example is "AlbumArt_{E50EF3A8-4000-4519.......}.
| They are all "AlbumArt" files. I figure it must be some of the sites I am
| going to, looking for free downloads - its not easy finding them as you
may
| know.
|
| There are also a few of these in the subfolder "Sample Music" which are
| dated 2/9/06, and I have no idea what they are either, or how they got
| there.
|
| I tried to delete them, but Windows gives me the warning that they are
| system files, and my computer might not work right if I delete them, etc.
| Can you tell me what these files are, and is it safe to delete them. I
| would think it would be safe to delete them, but I am afraid to without
| knowing for sure.
|
| Thanks...Pete
|
| PS - As an aside does anyone know a good site to download free "oldies"
from
| the 60's, 70's, 80's. It seems very difficult at best (all you get is
| garbage ads, and most are not free, and if you can find a free one, they
| want a "legitimate" e-mail address, and you would get junk mail the rest
of
| your life). Please let me know of any good sites if it's not too much
| trouble. Thanks again.
|
|

 

[Pete]

'Pete' wrote, in part:
_____

Delete the files if you wish. However, as long as you go rummaging
around the Internet looking for 'free' copyrighted music, expect to
see a lot of strange stuff appear on your system. Such downloads are
illegal, and are likely to be associated with all sorts of malware.

You could instead subscribe to a service like Napster, $9.95 per
month for unlimited downloads, playable as long as you continue to
pay the $9.95 per month. You present month involves multiple risks.

Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean to say
"your present method involves multiple risks", and what did you mean by
that).

I just downloaded WMP 11 and I notice it puts in the little AlbumArt
pictures I mentioned in my post - now it makes more sense - version 10
didn't have that feature.

I never downloaded music before and am a little confused about the so called
"free downloads". I know it used to be illegal (law suits, etc) years ago,
but I thought there were such things as "free downloads" currently. You
indicate that all free music downloads are illegal. If they are illegal,
how can the people who own the websites, publicly and blatantly do it over
the Internet without getting prosecuted. Please explain.

Thanks...Pete

 

[Rinaldo]

Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean to say
"your present method involves multiple risks", and what did you mean by
that).

I just downloaded WMP 11 and I notice it puts in the little AlbumArt
pictures I mentioned in my post - now it makes more sense - version 10
didn't have that feature.

I never downloaded music before and am a little confused about the so called
"free downloads". I know it used to be illegal (law suits, etc) years ago,
but I thought there were such things as "free downloads" currently. You
indicate that all free music downloads are illegal. If they are illegal,
how can the people who own the websites, publicly and blatantly do it over
the Internet without getting prosecuted. Please explain.

Thanks...Pete

Think about this Phil.....when you donate your "already read" books to the local
library or Salvation Army, aren't you violating copyright laws ???
Complete silliness. Here are some newsgroups where I've got over 20gb of
music, spam free, virus free, and adware free. Try putting a virus on a MP3.

alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1950s
"" "" " " 1960s
ETC.
There are others with similar sounding names. You have to be a little patient to
get what you want, however, requests are generally honored posthaste.
Have Fun, Pete, and make sure to d/l the VLC media player to end your
dependence on foreign media players !!!

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Rinaldo' wrote, in part:
| Think about this Phil.....when you donate your "already read" books to the
local
| library or Salvation Army, aren't you violating copyright laws ???
_____

You post in reply to 'Pete', yet you address me by name. Your intentions
are unclear, but your analogy is completely wrong. You don't understand
'copyright'. When you transfer, to another person, a book (or a CD or DVD)
you no longer have that material. That transfer is completely legal. If,
on the other hand, you make a copy of the book or other copyrighted
material, and THEN transfer the copy or original to a person, THEN you
violate copyright law.

'Rinaldo' wrote, in part:
| Complete silliness. Here are some newsgroups where I've got over 20gb of
| music, spam free, virus free, and adware free. Try putting a virus on a
MP3.
|
| alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1950s
| "" "" " " 1960s
| ETC.
_____

The downloads you describe, and the sites you describe violate copyright
law. So do you when you download the files.
You evidently have no idea what malware you court when you visit a site, or
download a file.

Phil Weldon


| Think about this Phil.....when you donate your "already read" books to the
local
| library or Salvation Army, aren't you violating copyright laws ???
| Complete silliness. Here are some newsgroups where I've got over 20gb of
| music, spam free, virus free, and adware free. Try putting a virus on a
MP3.
|
| alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1950s
| "" "" " " 1960s
| ETC.
| There are others with similar sounding names. You have to be a little
patient to
| get what you want, however, requests are generally honored posthaste.
| Have Fun, Pete, and make sure to d/l the VLC media player to end your
| dependence on foreign media players !!!
|

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Pete' wrote, in part:
| Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean to say
| "your present method involves multiple risks", and what did you mean by
| that).
_____

By 'multiple risks' I mean exposure to malware and spam as well as
prosecution for violation of copyright law.

'Pete' wrote, in part:
| You indicate that all free music downloads are illegal. If they are
illegal,
| how can the people who own the websites, publicly and blatantly do it over
| the Internet without getting prosecuted. Please explain.
_____

I indicate that 'free' downloads of COPYRIGHTED music such as you describe
are illegal. The sites violate the law. You violate the law when you use
them.

Phil Weldon

|
| Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean to say
| "your present method involves multiple risks", and what did you mean by
| that).
|
| I just downloaded WMP 11 and I notice it puts in the little AlbumArt
| pictures I mentioned in my post - now it makes more sense - version 10
| didn't have that feature.
|
| I never downloaded music before and am a little confused about the so
called
| "free downloads". I know it used to be illegal (law suits, etc) years
ago,
| but I thought there were such things as "free downloads" currently. You
| indicate that all free music downloads are illegal. If they are illegal,
| how can the people who own the websites, publicly and blatantly do it over
| the Internet without getting prosecuted. Please explain.
|
| Thanks...Pete

 

[Poprivet]

Hi everyone,

Please excuse me if this is slightly off topic, but it does relate to
system files, and I am afraid to delete them (since Windows puts the
warning up). I am running xpsp2.

I have recently been trying to download some mp3 music files, and it
seems that something is adding strange files to the "My Music" folder
where I download them to (they are dated yesterday, when I was doing
the downloading). They are little pictures when you click them on. Makes
no sense to me at all. An example is
"AlbumArt_{E50EF3A8-4000-4519.......}. They are all "AlbumArt" files.
I figure it must be some of the sites I am going to, looking for free
downloads - its not easy finding them as you may know.

There are also a few of these in the subfolder "Sample Music" which
are dated 2/9/06, and I have no idea what they are either, or how
they got there.

I tried to delete them, but Windows gives me the warning that they are
system files, and my computer might not work right if I delete them,
etc. Can you tell me what these files are, and is it safe to delete
them. I would think it would be safe to delete them, but I am afraid
to without knowing for sure.

Thanks...Pete

PS - As an aside does anyone know a good site to download free
"oldies" from the 60's, 70's, 80's. It seems very difficult at best
(all you get is garbage ads, and most are not free, and if you can
find a free one, they want a "legitimate" e-mail address, and you
would get junk mail the rest of your life). Please let me know of
any good sites if it's not too much trouble. Thanks again.

It's easy to get garbage from a lot of the supposed freebie music web sites
but I think there is a use for the files you mention; just not sure what it
is at the moment. Maybe a later version of WMP; I stayed at 10 because 11
didn't seem to want to work right the time i tried it.

Anyway, there are lots of oldies music around on the internet radio stations
these days; I use them a lot. To record them, I downloaded a copy of
Audacity, which has a "what u hear" feature; if you can hear it, you can
record it. It's free, and comes from SourceForge.net if you're interested.
A very nice program, and free.

As for all the copyright blather, they're mostly right, but if all you're
doing is listening to the songs yourself, no worry. It's when you try to
distribute anything in any way that you might get in trouble, which doesn't
sound like your intent.
You can also usually pull any songs you've listened to from the temporary
internet files, but ... that's a pain. That's why I dl'd Audacity.
I'm sure my comment will raise some additional comments and probably
gather some more blather, but that's what we call freedom of speech - no
problem.

HTH
Pop`

 

[Poprivet]

'Pete' wrote, in part:
_____

By 'multiple risks' I mean exposure to malware and spam as well as
prosecution for violation of copyright law.

'Pete' wrote, in part:
_____

I indicate that 'free' downloads of COPYRIGHTED music such as you
describe are illegal. The sites violate the law. You violate the
law when you use them.

Phil Weldon

Wrong: The sites may violate the law by distributing them. The poster does
not violate the law simply by listening to them for his own pleasure: Else
anyone who ever listened to a streamed media would be doing something
illegal - since they're stored in the temporary internet files in their hard
drive. It's distribution and transport, when you follow all the lingo down
to the nitty gritty that's illegal, whether it's for money or not. On top
of that, you have no way of knowing whether the poster was using an illegal
site or not; you're simply making noise over a question that wasn't asked.

ON one more note, there are millions of songs on the 'net that WERE
copyrighted but which are not any longer. They are then called 'in the
public domain'. Copyrights expire, believe it or not, and it's not unusual.
It's not just a matter of once having put a copyright notice on something.
I recommend some research on the subject of the reality of copyrights,
intellectual rights and treademarks, and how relevant they are or are not.
It's not a simple subject, especially the way you're treating it.

Pop`

 

[Rinaldo]

'Rinaldo' wrote, in part:
| Think about this Phil.....when you donate your "already read" books to the
local
| library or Salvation Army, aren't you violating copyright laws ???
_____

You post in reply to 'Pete', yet you address me by name. Your intentions
are unclear, but your analogy is completely wrong. You don't understand
'copyright'. When you transfer, to another person, a book (or a CD or DVD)
you no longer have that material. That transfer is completely legal. If,
on the other hand, you make a copy of the book or other copyrighted
material, and THEN transfer the copy or original to a person, THEN you
violate copyright law.

'Rinaldo' wrote, in part:
| Complete silliness. Here are some newsgroups where I've got over 20gb of
| music, spam free, virus free, and adware free. Try putting a virus on a
MP3.
|
| alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1950s
| "" "" " " 1960s
| ETC.
_____

The downloads you describe, and the sites you describe violate copyright
law. So do you when you download the files.
You evidently have no idea what malware you court when you visit a site, or
download a file.

Phil Weldon


| Think about this Phil.....when you donate your "already read" books to the
local
| library or Salvation Army, aren't you violating copyright laws ???
| Complete silliness. Here are some newsgroups where I've got over 20gb of
| music, spam free, virus free, and adware free. Try putting a virus on a
MP3.
|
| alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1950s
| "" "" " " 1960s
| ETC.
| There are others with similar sounding names. You have to be a little
patient to
| get what you want, however, requests are generally honored posthaste.
| Have Fun, Pete, and make sure to d/l the VLC media player to end your
| dependence on foreign media players !!!

Let's see. I buy a CD, copy it to my PC and then give it away to the local library.
You may be tecnically correct, but if I'm not PROFITING from the xfer I seriously
doubt if anyone cares regardless of the copyright laws. However, if you are
correct in your interpretation of the copyright law, I believe all the
alt.binaries.sounds NG's should be reported to the AG.
OTOH, I suppose the $.50 charitable contribution tax break I get could be
considered proiteering to some people.

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Poprivet' wrote, in part:
| Wrong: The sites may violate the law by distributing them. The poster
does
| not violate the law simply by listening to them for his own pleasure:
_____

Your post is wrong or irrelevant in every statement except for your
recommendation:
| I recommend some research on the subject of the reality of copyrights,
| intellectual rights and treademarks, and how relevant they are or are not.

Follow it.

Phil Weldon

| Phil Weldon wrote:
| > 'Pete' wrote, in part:
| >> Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean
| >> to say "your present method involves multiple risks", and what did
| >> you mean by that).
| > _____
| >
| > By 'multiple risks' I mean exposure to malware and spam as well as
| > prosecution for violation of copyright law.
| >
| > 'Pete' wrote, in part:
| >> You indicate that all free music downloads are illegal. If they are
| >> illegal, how can the people who own the websites, publicly and
| >> blatantly do it over the Internet without getting prosecuted.
| >> Please explain.
| > _____
| >
| > I indicate that 'free' downloads of COPYRIGHTED music such as you
| > describe are illegal. The sites violate the law. You violate the
| > law when you use them.
| >
| > Phil Weldon
| >
| > | >>
| >> Thanks Phil...what does the sentence before this mean (did you mean
| >> to say "your present method involves multiple risks", and what did
| >> you mean by that).
| >>
| >> I just downloaded WMP 11 and I notice it puts in the little AlbumArt
| >> pictures I mentioned in my post - now it makes more sense - version
| >> 10 didn't have that feature.
| >>
| >> I never downloaded music before and am a little confused about the
| >> so called "free downloads". I know it used to be illegal (law
| >> suits, etc) years ago, but I thought there were such things as "free
| >> downloads" currently. You indicate that all free music downloads
| >> are illegal. If they are illegal, how can the people who own the
| >> websites, publicly and blatantly do it over the Internet without
| >> getting prosecuted. Please explain.
| >>
| >> Thanks...Pete
|
| Wrong: The sites may violate the law by distributing them. The poster
does
| not violate the law simply by listening to them for his own pleasure:
Else
| anyone who ever listened to a streamed media would be doing something
| illegal - since they're stored in the temporary internet files in their
hard
| drive. It's distribution and transport, when you follow all the lingo
down
| to the nitty gritty that's illegal, whether it's for money or not. On top
| of that, you have no way of knowing whether the poster was using an
illegal
| site or not; you're simply making noise over a question that wasn't asked.
|
| ON one more note, there are millions of songs on the 'net that WERE
| copyrighted but which are not any longer. They are then called 'in the
| public domain'. Copyrights expire, believe it or not, and it's not
unusual.
| It's not just a matter of once having put a copyright notice on something.
| I recommend some research on the subject of the reality of copyrights,
| intellectual rights and treademarks, and how relevant they are or are not.
| It's not a simple subject, especially the way you're treating it.
|
| Pop`
|
|
|

 

[Daave]

You indicate that all free music downloads are
illegal. If they are illegal, how can the people who own the
websites, publicly and blatantly do it over the Internet without
getting prosecuted. Please explain.

Actually, the RIAA *has* gone after a number of people who have been
sharing MP3 files. There are ways to minimize risk, but there's a bit of
a learning curve. I'm sure there are some newsgroups which address this
topic.

Anywho, not all free music downloads are illegal. Check out
http://www.archive.org/details/etree

Regarding legality and morality of file sharing, I see it as a gray
area. It's legal to record TV shows so you may watch them at a later
time. I'm pretty sure it's legal to archive these recordings and share
them with friends. I'm pretty sure it's legal to record music a radio
station plays. I'm pretty sure it's legal to make a mix tape for a
friend. I wouldn't be surprised if *someone* would argue there's
copyright infringement going on in these examples, but there has always
been "fair use" of copyrighted material. What constitutes fair use is
debatable, I'm sure.

If I purchase a CD and like it so much and decide to burn a few copies
for my friends who I'm sure would otherwise not purchase this particular
CD, I see nothing morally wrong about it. There are two types of people
when it comes to file sharing: those who spend a lot of money on CDs and
DVDs and those who hardly ever spend any money. I see why the record
labels feel threatened by the latter category (and I wouldn't argue that
those who sponge like this are in the right), however, the first
category helps increase sales by increasing exposure (creating "buzz").
I will leave legality up to the courts, but I've always seen morality as
a gray area in this situation.

 

[Pete]

It's easy to get garbage from a lot of the supposed freebie music web
sites but I think there is a use for the files you mention; just not
sure what it is at the moment. Maybe a later version of WMP; I
stayed at 10 because 11 didn't seem to want to work right the time i
tried it.
Anyway, there are lots of oldies music around on the internet radio
stations these days; I use them a lot. To record them, I downloaded
a copy of Audacity, which has a "what u hear" feature; if you can
hear it, you can record it. It's free, and comes from
SourceForge.net if you're interested. A very nice program, and free.

As for all the copyright blather, they're mostly right, but if all
you're doing is listening to the songs yourself, no worry. It's when
you try to distribute anything in any way that you might get in
trouble, which doesn't sound like your intent.
You can also usually pull any songs you've listened to from the
temporary internet files, but ... that's a pain. That's why I dl'd
Audacity. I'm sure my comment will raise some additional comments
and probably gather some more blather, but that's what we call freedom of
speech -
no problem.

HTH
Pop`

Thanks Pop (and to Phil, Rinaldo and Dave for all of your comments also),

Sorry I am a couple days late on this response. I mentioned in a follow
post in this thread that the "albumart" files do have a use, and that the
little pics (along with other neat data - artists, composer, etc), show up
in WMP 11, which I just upgraded to. It's kind of neat. I like WMP 11,
except for one little glitch I've found - it doesn't highlight or mark the
station your listening to while streaming - once you collapse it, or click
back to the library, the little highlight marking is gone, and you don't
know what station your listening to because the "titles" on the list don't
necessarily match the now playing title (and you can not retitle all
stations - only some - wierd stuff). WMP 10 always showed the current
station highligted in green on a list off to the right. Oh well, other than
that, I like WMP 11.

I am new at this, and I am certainly not trying to steal anything, or do
anything illegal. I am just trying to listen to some music for my own
pleasure, and have no intention of copying it and redistributing it, and I
don't see how anyone could prove that anyone of the six billion people in
the world were redistributing a single copy of a disc to someone else anyway
(that would be ludicrous).

I understand that the details of patents, copyrights and trademarks are all
separate legal nightmares, da da da da. I think Phil may be a little too
strong on this, and perhaps treating it a little too simply (eg, I believe
that there are all kinds of exceptions, such as the expired copyrights that
"Pop" mentioned, or other special permissions, or conditions). If there
weren't, I don't see how the persons running the web sites can get away with
it, without getting prosecuted (like I said). They certainly don't give out
whole albums, and only one song at a time - at least to my knowledge - but I
am new at this like I said.

I listen to the oldies by streaming all the time. I will try the Audacity
(sounds neat - I didn't know you could record streamed music - you can't in
WMP). I hope it is not too complicated (ie I hope it is user friendly). To
this day, I have never been able to figure out the idiosyncracies of "sonic
record" on my xp, or "adaptac" which I had on my previous millenium - lol .

Thanks again to you all...Pete