[13] NMT and Consumption - Limewire

LimeWire is a downloading programme which exploits the system of downloading as its all done free. LimeWire is a file sharing program running on the Gnutella Network. It is open standard software running on an open protocol, free for the public to use. LimeWire allows you to share any file such as .mp3s, .avis, .jpgs, .tiffs, etc. Limewire is written in Java, and will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Sun, and other computing platforms. Publish your original content to the world without setting up a website! The software has a very large global reach giving an increasingly larger number of files to share on the network.

The main audience is the younger generation as its main purpose is music and videos and they are the people that generally would be able to use it. Limewire replaces the physical forms of sharing items but now is available for all. There are no restrictions to what can be shared and therefore this can be abused and everyone on the network is able to take what they want as they want it. The broadband speed, as expected plays a part in this as they faster the speed the faster the download speed.

There is a lot of legal debate about this issue as it breaches the rules of copyright, exchanging music for no money and therefore Limewire has been under a lot of pressure to close down at the risk of being sued.

It is global and reaches a lot of people al over the world and is distribution and integration.