[Sophira]

I'd say the biggest reason that Gnutella (and other services like it) is no longer in much use is because for a long, long time now the easiest way to download music for free, without ads, and with virtually zero chance of getting caught, has been via YouTube and downloader clients. For most practical uses, it's good enough.

You wouldn't want to share the resulting downloads (not only is the audio quality slightly degraded, but I imagine it's highly likely there would be audio watermarks), but when everybody can download straight from YouTube anyway with a minimum of hassle, why would you need to share anything other than a video URL?

Of course, a big part of why this is so simple is because of the massive amount of work that the downloader client devs put into working around YouTube's attempts to stop this. I imagine it can be a difficult job.

If YouTube ever win the battle against the downloader clients, I imagine the landscape will change again. Maybe Gnutella will make a comeback.

[d3Xt3r]

It's got nothing to do with YouTube - people just don't download music any more, period. At least not like they used to, back in the late 90s and 00s. Instead, most people these days stream music from the myriad of streaming services, and yes even YouTube - it's a convenience thing. Of course, there are exceptions like audiophiles, indie/niche music, or general offline usage (flights, roaming etc); but the vast majority just stream these days because it's so much more convenient..

[kazinator]

I have not downloaded in a long time because ... well ... I downloaded all the good music years ago and they mostly stopped making it. :)

[zirak]

ok I'll bite - what do you consider good music?

Music is a big part of my life and I've found great joy in discovering new music. To give it a start, here are some suggestions from across genres of good music written after 2010:

    - Classical:
      - David Bruce - Gumboots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRIDt_4Xloc
      - Anna Clyne - Masquerade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEOchchAuWk
    - Jazz (one of my personal favourites, and too many subgenres to count):
      - Ai Kuwabara - Bet Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgyCpJ9FxCU
      - Brad Mehldau - Everything in Its Right Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omF16-qbmeM
      - Kamasi Washington - The Magnificent 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCnP5Z7Vn1E
    - Prog, metal, & friends:
      - Porcupine Tree - Dignity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3UhjiXG5m0
      - Haken - Falling Back to Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHGrSP43QE
      - Tigran Hamasyan - Drip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7j7bdEPSd0
      - The Ocean - Into the Uncanny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrpf51-WfH8
      - The Dear Hunter - Magic Beans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8i19Lsw34M
    - Funk
      - Vulfpeck - Back Pocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG96RttfZtM
    - Pop rock
      - Hannah Gil - Austin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr64XFAMANY
      - Melt - Sour Candy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z133wUm-WZ0
      - Follies & Vices - Red Wine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdaU_NkUWBI
      - Sammy Rae & The Friends - Good Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vCdmd99Cx8
    - Punk & punk rock:
      - Father of Peace - Enemy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcfO9ENSYAQ
      - Turnstile - BIRDS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_qhk_sqr5w
      - Local H - TURN THE BOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBtXJbgNCkA

...and uncountable others. What's your groove? I'm sure it can still be found out there!

[chickensong]

Say what? It's hard to hear you from way up there on your high horse, but it sounded like you said you were diagnosed with plebeian taste freeze? Aah that's too bad. My condolences.

[bawolff]

Sure, but people do download movies & tv. Maybe not as much as in the heyday, but that usecase is still alive.

[Findecanor]

Many Youtube-to-mp3 sites exist, though.

[vvillena]

Gnutella fell in popularity before Youtube existed. The big reason the decentralized P2P file sharing networks went away was their vulnerability to spoofing. Downloads were slow so it was important to be sure of the quality of the files being downloaded, which meant grabbing links from a website or some sort of forum. And once there's a forum, for some of the sites it was not much of a jump to add a BitTorrent tracker to the infrastructure. Additionally, for those sites that were primary sources of uploaded material, BitTorrent was a much better fit.

[lnrd]

Spotify killed the concept of downloading music, either legally or not.

[kazinator]

After YT downloading and what not, there is still Bittorrent.