Limewire Shut Down for Good

Nothing in life is free.

This saying is especially true now more than ever for music lovers who have been loyal fans of downloading music from sites such as Limewire.

After a four-year legal battle with the U.S. music industry, the ever-popular file sharing website, Limewire has been shut down.

A permanent injuction has been ordered by a federal court in New York this past month that will prevent any searching or sharing of any copyrighted music files.

U.S. Judge Kimba woods ruled that record companies "have suffered – and will continue to suffer irreparable harm from LimeWire's inducement of widespread infringement of their works", adding that the potential damages were staggering.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Limewire has cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Also, according to their figures, U.S. recorded music sales fell to $7.7bn in 2009 from $14.5bn in 1999.

A trial is set for January 2011, so a federal court can decide the appropriate level of compensation for record companies for all of the illegal downloads.

Limewire, however is not the first service of this kind to be shut down. Back in 2002, Napster collapsed after dealing with a substantial amount of legal troubles.

Limewire CEO George Searle assures Limewire fans that they plan on working with the music industry to come up with a legal music service website.

However, music lovers will have to cough up the $1.29 per song to iTunes until a legal solution can be reached.