YouTube stream-ripping site for the masses dead in wake of RIAA suit

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The Recording Industry Association of America, the British Recorded Music Industry, and other industry lobbyists have sent piracy site Youtube-mp3.org down the memory hole. The site facilitated illicit stream-ripping for the masses.

The site, which shuttered to settle a US copyright infringement suit in Los Angeles, allowed pirates to drop a YouTube music video URL into a field on the site. Minutes later, users would get a fresh download of the music from the video. The site, according to the RIAA, was home to 60 million visitors a month.

"One of the world's most egregious stream-ripping sites has shuttered. Sites like these undermine the health of the legitimate marketplace and the livelihoods of millions of music creators worldwide," Cary Sherman, the RIAA chairman and CEO, said in a statement Thursday.

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