Omemo has been launched for a couple of weeks now and already the new filesharing service has attracted a lot of media attention. The system is currently in Beta, but is worth downloading to see what all the filesharing fuss is about.

Omemo is easy to use – you share files by uploading them to the network and then browsing through what other people have been uploading. The filesharing interface works in your web browser and you can look through video, audio, software and images. Omemo is still fairly new so the limited number of users means that there are a limited numbers of files available for sharing.

The music downloads are easy to manage and reasonably fast. Everything is user-generated so you can create new folders and categories for files on the network, although it’s unclear how this is all regulated.

In terms of music downloads, Omemo is yet to establish itself as a real player in the filesharing world. It will take time to increase the user base, although what Omemo has at the moment is a simple program that is easy to use. There is search functionality so you can get straight down to filesharing and find what you want.

The Center for Democracy and Technology has compiled a list of 30 websites that claim to offer legit music downloads, which are, in fact, not licensed distributors of the music they peddle.

These music download sites don’t offer legal music or any type of reliable service – they’re just there to take your money, like everyone else, really. Although these music download websites may resemble fully licensed services, they are not.

Here’s the list:

allcoolmusic.com
allmusicdownloads.com
e-mp3now.com
easymusicdownload.com
ezmp3s.com
free-music-downloads.cc
freeaccessmp3.com
freemusicnow.cc
howdoiwin.com/recommends/Movies
imp3download.com
imp3download.com/
imusicaccess.com
imusicsearch.com
klitetk.com
mimusicamp3.com
mp3-all-free.com
mp3-download-lyrics.com
mp3-freebie.com
mp3-freedom.com
mp3downloadhq.com/
mp3downloadnet.com
mp3downloadsnow.com
mp3favorites.com
mp3musichq.com
mp3rocket.com
musicjustfree.com
my-free-songs.com
my-music-now.com
myipodaccess.com
mymusicinc.com
netmusicaccess.com
netmusicsite.com
realmusicnow.com
unlimiteddownloadcenter.com

Sites on this list should be avoided at all costs. You are much better off using music download programs like Limewire or BitTorrent. If you’re into new gadgets, you might want to give Omemo, a new filesharing service, a quick once over. It’s one of the most interesting filesharing programs out there at the moment.

A new filesharing program called Omemo was launched this week. Omemo works by users downloading the software and then allocating a small section of their hard drives to be used in the Omemo network. This creates a huge virtual hard drive for of material that people can then share.

This latest filesharing service is similar to other programs like Limewire and so it’s difficult to see how it will be any different to its filesharing relatives. The service is free to use and there is a lot of expectation of Omemo.

Omemo is currently in Beta and is available for free download. The program was launched on December 17 and there is very little information available about it on the net, but after a few days’ worth of testing, reports on the service will start popping up on the Internet.

Omemo is worth a try and the service is, according the developers, totally anonymous.

Take this news for what it’s worth, but a recent study by the NPD Group has revealed that 50% of Mac users pay for their music downloads, compared to just 16% of PC users. Mac users pay for music downloads from services such as iTunes. Mac users also came out as more likely to buy CDs than PC users.

Clearly, there is a difference between Mac users and PC users. As well as music downloads, 32% of Mac users questioned said they had bought a CD in the final quarter of 2007, compared with 28% of PC users.

Although Mac users are perhaps commendable for their online habits, these figures are still incredibly low. Only half of Mac users pay for music downloads, which means that half get their music for free from filesharing services like Ares and Limewire.

With such low figures for CD sales across the board, it will take more than an army of Mac users to revive the music industry. We say it a lot here, but the time are changing. 50 Cent recently spoke out about filesharing and said that the music industry now has to move with the times and replace the lost revenue from CD sales with income generated from touring and merchandising.

Mac users are a funny bunch, anyway.

So there is a god. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), who we love dearly, finally saw sense and dropped its lawsuit against the granny who had suffered enormously at the hands of Hurricane Rita. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Christmas spirit that made the RIAA see sense in this latest filesharing lawsuit.

Granny Crain had previously claimed that she had never used filesharing services and that she had had her home displaced by the hurricane. That wasn’t enough to deter the RIAA. The case would have continued by for a counter-claim by Granny Crain that the RIAA had played dirty by sending an unlicensed investigator to snoop on the old lady.

MediaSentry, hired by the RIAA, is apparently not allowed to investigate people in Texas – not even in filesharing cases for the mighty RIAA Vs The People. The RIAA is now shaken as it could potentially lose a number of filesharing cases based on this ruling. The RIAA has likely dropped its case out of fear that if MediaSentry snooping is ruled illegal in this lawsuit, a host of other filesharing cases will fall apart – we can but hope.

Granny Crain had been accused of using the filesharing services Kazaa. Demands to settle out of court for $4,500 were rejected by the pensioner.

The RIAA also suffered a setback in a filesharing case when Tanya Andersen and her 10-year-old daughter left the RIAA on the ropes after more claims against MediaSentry investigations. The RIAA stalked and hounded Anderson for three years, but it appears that there is some justice in the world.