StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Anyone know of a site of file sharing service that you can get them on, there's on called the top 100 and the top 50 that have lots of popups and lead you around in circles, and sometimes don't even have what they claim to have.
I heard of something called Romster which is supposed to be like a Napster from Roms, is it a file sharing service right? Not simply a site, right? I think I went to it once and some of the links were broken or something. Guess I could download it on Kazaa but it might not be detailed enough to tell you exactly what the file is and to what system it goes on.

Direct Connect
Overnet
Morpheus (Kazaa with a different name)
tsk tsk, but file sharing networks ARE legal. - Kev

Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

oops sorry mods

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

Yeah alot of people seem to be ignoring that nowadays...

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

bleh... he never specified which games... some you can legally get, methinks... but uh, *runs from thread, erasing all evidence he was here*

And IIRC, those that violated it were supposted to be punished in a way other than they're thread being locked...

Mitth-raw-nuruodo wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

bleh... he never specified which games... some you can legally get, methinks... but uh, *runs from thread, erasing all evidence he was here*

While emulators are technically legal, most ROMs aren't.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:While emulators are technically legal, most ROMs aren't.

unless you have purchased the original, i think. then its fair use in having a backup copy.

I always thought that was some BS that pirates made up to defend their actions...

IIRC, Fair Use does not cover "backup copies" in any way whatsoever, nor is there any "24 hour" time limit. It's all garbage that people have made up.

I think the backup copy thing is legal, otherwise GameCopyWorld would have been shut down a LONG time ago...

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Possible violation of Discussion of Illegal Activities Clause...

I think the EDonkey one is the only link that may even violate that, but I didn't look to much into that link. I prefer English sites myself.

Morpheus is still in existance because it's creators do not condone the use of their software for DLing copywrited material (at least not officially). Napster got screwed because they ran servers that actually hosted the materials (that's why it was so good). Most the programs today are true peer-to-peer only.

Offering links to download illegally obtained software = bad.
Offering links to software that may be used to download software = ok as long as it can serve some form of legitimate use.

They argue that the software can be used for easy file sharing and not for illegal uses. Sure, we all know it's BS, but the legal system has to make a distinction. Unfortunately, the law is far behind the times, so the prosecutors usually have the benefit of the doubt. Google is always the best way to find anything, so I usually tell people to have fun in their own endeavors (Hey, I had to dig, why can't they?).

The 24 hours thing is BS, but the one that says you're allowed to make backup copies is real. Although the game companies themselves will deny it. If I remember correctly, it's based on the same thing that allows you to record the radio or to copy songs as long as you don't distribute them to others or make a profit.

kojikun wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:While emulators are technically legal, most ROMs aren't.

unless you have purchased the original, i think. then its fair use in having a backup copy.

That's debatable. Fair-use backup copies tend to only be legitimate if you've made the copy yourself from something you already own. Otherwise it's dangerously close to piracy, unless one used the excuse that they're treating the ROM as having come from say, a data archiving service, where they are performing the backup service that you are incapable of doing for whatever reason.

Link removed

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I always thought that was some BS that pirates made up to defend their actions...

IIRC, Fair Use does not cover "backup copies" in any way whatsoever, nor is there any "24 hour" time limit. It's all garbage that people have made up.

Fair use does not cover it (generally speaking), but sometimes there's a clause in the license that allows you to make a single, non-transferrable backup.

I find that Kazaa and similar applications are very helpful for any file I might need. Corrupted file on a software cd thanks to a scratch or two? Kazaa tends to find it if I search anywhere from a minute to a month. If you're looking for something as specific as a console game type file (believe it or not, there are people out there making freeware games for those old systems now for you to use with your very legal emulator). I find it is best to know beforehand what the extension of the file should be, and search for that, typically without the title. For example, files usable with an SNES emulator typically have a *.smc extension.
For all your emulation needs, and a few free and legal ROMs, I suggest zophar.net, where the popups aren't all that bad.