ahh heres the point. I fully agree it's stealing, however in light of the frivolous charges the labels put on the CD's i would call it ethical.

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I am a stone, I do not move. I take my time, I let him come closer. I have only one bullet. I aim at his eye. I do not tremble, I have no fear.

Well, if we're going to get that deep into the analogy, it's worth pointing out that mp3s and wmas are far from perfect copies of CDs. So what we have is akin to illegal copies of legally duplicated material in the public library--an illegal xerox of a legal xerox.

Actually, the analog of the digital on-demand press would be widespread transfers of very large cd-image ".iso" files... (of which I've never seen on a p2p network) complete with liner notes in .pdf format. Like a xerox copy of a book, a bunch of mp3s still falls far short of a perfect copy of the original CD.

When the Sony Betamax was challenged under similar grounds, the courts found that the primary (legal) use of the recorders (to delay programming to be watched at a later time) outweighed the potential for the device to be used illegally. This was part of the justifcation for deciding in favor of Sony, and one of the points raised by the current Supreme Court when questioning the p2p lawyers in the present lawsuit.

I've downloaded several games in order to demo them. I delete them after a day or two if I don't like them.

If I do enjoy the game, I'll go out and buy it to support the developers and publisher. Is this illegal? Yes, but with games floating at $50 (couple this with the inability to get your money back if you don't like it) I consider it part of the research process. Over the past several years, I've probably spent $200 or so on crappy games that I've been suckered into buying. Hell if I'll let that happen again.

I also use file-sharing programs to find rare songs or bootlegs from Bruce Springsteen.

As for trying to stop this activity: good luck. There are programs out there that can block entire IP ranges (which cost several thousand dollars to purchase), effectively making downloaders invisible from RIAA investigators. At last count this program is blocking 699,425,457 IPs...

The best thing for the industry to do is offer people incentives not to download (such as iTunes). For example, you can't play games over the Internet if you've illegally downloaded it because your key wont match. Bruce Springsteen's next CD will feature DVD content on one side (which is a pain for fans to acquire over the Internet), encouraging people to buy the actual product in stores.

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Proudly a "South Park Republican"

With a lot of things, you can take it back to the store for a refund if you change your mind within a reasonable amount of time. With cds and computer games, you're stuck with them. And, I'll wager that everybody here has taken a chance and bought a cd for one song and ended up hating the rest of the cd.

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"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~Ronald Reagan

I listen to weird stuff. It's hard to find the CDs I want sometimes.

At least with I-tunes there are more options for buying songs you like instead of stealing. I've just never done it.

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Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine