As a Mac user --- not on a network, not even protected by a firewall --- I too have found LW downloads impossibly slow, despite the use of a broadband connection. I have also read the FAQs and followed a couple of other threads (including the Mac threads) in an effort to understand what I might be doing wrong. To no avail.

This complaint is not a challenge to the spirit of the LW community (as suggested by Et Voila). It is motivated by simple frustration: I would like the product to work.

In defence of rubaiyat: the problem of religiosity is common to internet discussion forums on many subjects. (I was recently told of an "open forum" on pet care that carried a warning against all posts that defended or promoted pet vaccinations.)

For my part, I will generally lend an ear to the voice of impartiality --- because it frequently coincides with the voice of reason.

Moderator replies (Et Voila and Ursula, I believe?) to rubaiyat's postings have been no better than childish, embarrassing sarcasm that have in no way refuted the points rubaiyat has made. Worse --- they have offered no real help to LW users. Instead, we get testimonials about dowloading hundreds of MBs in a day. Is this intended to help those who haven't accomplished the same feat, or is it simply a way of discrediting complaints?

Rubaiyat has been labelled a spammer (subtext --- heretic?) in large Scarlet Letters (in case anyone in this galaxy should miss the symbolism?). When will we all be invited to the public stoning?

If everyone who uses this product is obliged to offer a testimonial, to improve the "karma" of the community or to be a true believer, then LW is selling snake oil.
In addition, the pretence that this is any sort of forum should be dropped.

Let us see if one of the discussion moderators (who should perhaps consult any standard dictionary on the meaning of the word "moderate" --- as verb, adjective or noun) can make a reasonable reply to my complaint. It is this: downloads using LW in Mac OS X are impossibly slow, and fiddling with the obscure settings, as suggested in your FAQs, has made no measurable difference.

I certainly intend to give LW's rival products a try. If they are slower or more difficult to use, I may have to abandon the search for cherished remasters of the 78s from my childhood. Goodbye Sophie Tucker, Yogi Yorgensen and Jimmy Rodgers.