Since they are copies of the original or of another copy, you pay shady organizations for a lesser quality product that is not theirs. Once again, I am all for sampling songs but it is important to officially buy what you like.

Backstreets' official position is that we do not endorse the buying or selling of unauthorized material, and we do not carry bootlegs nor can we help collectors obtain these items. Bootleg collecting is a reality at present, however, and because our readers have repeatedly asked for it, we do provide a columnist who does consumer-oriented reviews of new bootlegs so collectors can know what dogs to avoid.

With the explosion of the internet, fans now have an easy means to contact each other to exchange bootleg recordings. There are many U2 mailing lists which allow for the trade of bootlegs, and still other lists which are dedicated to the trading of bootlegs. Many fans also maintain webpages which list the material that they have for trade. Often you do not need to have recordings to trade to make use of these services, as fans often will offer to make copies for blank CDs and postage in return.

In the past, KMFDM has stated: "We have no problem with a 'souvenir' type Walkman recording. We do have a problem if these recordings pop up commercially for horrendous prices like 'Operation KMFDM .'" However, now that KMFDM has released live albums, the band's opinion has likely changed TO BE UPDATED

No, we can't. Can't tell you where to score dope, either, or where to buy cartons of cigarettes that fell off the back of a truck. While Backstreets magazine does review bootlegs as a service to those readers who will be spending their hard-earned money on them anyway, we do not carry bootlegs nor can we help collectors obtain these items. We advocate tape- and CDR-trading over buying bootlegs. For more information on the collecting and trading of CD-Rs, mp3s, etc.

When you are taking photosensitizing medication it is not recommended to tan outdoors or indoors. If you aren't sure, ask your doctor, or ask our tanning consultant to see a list of medications, which can greatly increase the risk of overexposure. A partial list, by no means inclusive, appears below. Many common medications and even ingredients in food, shampoos & soaps can cause photo sensitivity which may lead to overexposure.

Jack explains in the interview he did for the extra bonus features on the Poor Specimen DVD of Taylor Steele's film "Loose Change" ... Mainly from Rob Machado, Dan Malloy, and Timmy Curren. They're my main copy makers of music. Actually, Jason Weatherly as well. Makes a lot of copies, and burns it, and just passes it out to everybody.

Yes ? this is the purpose of the Zappateers tracker. By sharing these files free to Zappa freaks all over the world, the Zappateers hope to help eliminate the illegal commercial exploitation of Frank Zappa's legacy.

I have a Beatles bootleg that's absolutely terrible. I didn't find this out until after I bought it, but all Beatles bootlegs are exactly the same. They begin with, ''Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles . . .'' and then all you can hear is screaming girls. That's it. I have that one. I have Tom Petty live from the ''Refugee'' tour. I have some old Springsteen ones. They had great radio stations when I was a kid in San Francisco.

In 1991, when a bootleg of U2's studio sessions called The New U2 (the first version of what would eventually become the Salom? bootleg) was being distributed, Island Records took out a full-page ad in the British publication Music Week warning record stores that the label would "take legal proceedings" against anyone selling the bootlegs. U2 manager Paul McGuinness issued a press statement saying the bootleggers were cheating fans by distributing inferior material.

No, and you'll never have to, our bootleg collection is absolutely free available for anyone in the world. You don't have to upload or do anything in order to use our bootleg collection. That's what U2 fans are all about in our opinion. But, when you download bootlegs you often have to deal with upload/download services that have certain limits on downloading files, for example: on Rapidshare you can download a file, but you'll have to wait about 90 seconds.

You can go to "your u2start" at the top of our website, then you'll click on "my bootleg collection" and you can fill in all the bootlegs you already have. When a new bootlegs shows up, it will be marked with an orange dot instead of a red one, which means you don't have it. After downloading you click on the bootleg page on the link "Add this bootleg to my U2start profile" and the bootleg will be marked red.

Yes. Shows have been bootlegged and are widely available on the Internet, although I have personally never seen a commercial CD bootleg release from one of the major bootleg firms, but this may change in time. Please do not email me asking where to get Interpol bootlegs, as your email will be flambéed in Cointreau and served to the dog.

It is getting harder and harder to spot bootlegs nowadays. When a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Many record shows prohibit the sale of bootleg recordings. There are two reasons for this; the political reason, and the REAL reason. The political reason is that the sale of bootlegs is illegal. The REAL reason is that bootleg dealers tend to make off with too much of the cash. Boot dealers tend to be "fly by night" operations that don't typically compete with "straight" dealers, other than at shows.

The problem with bootlegs and pirate recordings was at its worst in the years intervening the cessation of Come Organisation and the beginning of Susan Lawly (one of the motives for starting the new label). Most of the pirate recordings originated in Germany at the hands of Achim Flamm and Christoph Heemann. Sound-wise they were of extremely poor quality as they all had been crudely recorded from copies of the vinyl LPs.

No, all of the items we sell are factory originals. All of the items we are selling as new are factory sealed and are the same as you would buy in a retail store.