Should FILE SHARING be allowed. Not music downloading, it is FILE SHARING. Remember there is a big difference in wording. Think about this like people thought about the Nacirema, look from the outside of the country in to find the answer...

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Do not believe out of fear, or for the fact you grew up in a religon. Believe what your heart tells you is right.
-C. Payette

I haven't seen a strong argument for why music downloading shouldn't be legal. Much of the time you simply hear silly stories about how this doesn't hurt the record executives it hurts the little guys: the mixers, the technicians, the janitors. Whatever.

As far as US copyright law goes, it has generally been legal to make copies of copyrighted works for "personal use." I can copy articles out of $1000 scientific journals at the library for free, so long as I don't sell/distribute it to others. I can record the superbowl and watch it as often as I like, so long as I don't sell/distribute to others. Why shouldn't I be able to copy music and listen to it as much as i like, so long as I don't sell/distribute to others?

I think it's okay to copy/download music -- I'm no more stealing from record companies than I am stealing from publishing companies when I copy/download research articles.

But downloaders aren't the ones being sued. The question is whether people who leave their computer directories open for others to copy files are "distributing" those files. Were they making 1000's of copies themselves and distributing them via email, I would say yes. But they're not doing that. They're acting like the library.

if the record companies weren't trying to milk every possible dime out of their artists, pushing them to release albums on a schedule that virtually ensures that half the album will be half-baked crap.

I download music all the time. If I find a band that has a number of good songs on an album, I buy the album. If I only like a single, I buy the single online.

Catz

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

player I purchased for my daughter's class trip tomorrow is a prohibited item because the "school cannot control the content of materials on these devices."

Who here would take it anyway?

Catz

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

I don't understand. Who cares if the school can't control the content? What's the problem?

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Man up.

If it's obviously an MP3 player, they will confiscate it. Then again, if the cds are storebought, maybe they'll let it slide. The teacher may not know the difference.

Just remember, schools have suspended kids for having fingernail clippers at school. Maybe you shouldn't take any chances.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

Okay, now that's absurd. What sort of content do the schools feel they have a right to control? The school can't control the content of the magazines kids might bring -- are those banned as well? Wow, that would really (*)(*)(*)(*) me off.

As for the downloading issue, I think the current set of lawsuits is more or less a stall tactic until the music industry develops and markets SACD/high-definition music, which will of course have copy protections. Currently, they are pushing an inferior product. Most of us would rather have small ipod filled with songs we like rather than a bookshelf of CD's, many with songs we will never listen to. I think paying 99c for a good quality download of a song I like is reasonable, but have no qualms about illegally downloading a song a remember from 20 years ago that I'll probably listen to half a dozen times before I put it on the shelf for another 20 years. Like you, if I really like an artist, I'll buy the CD.

That being said, I think the "album generation" will soon be coming to a close. Eventually most people will simply download their music.

then by all means share it with anyone you like. But downloading music for free and then burning it on a CD is indeed theft IMO. The producer of any product, be it cars or concertos, is entitled to charge whatever he or she wishes for the product produced. It costs money to make cars and it costs money to record, advertise and distribute music (even crappy music). Under copyright law the artist or the label or whoever owns the music. So taking it without compensation is stealing and is the same as if you walked into Target and just pulled the CD off the shelf and walked out.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

A good point; it's the downloaders committing the crime. Obviously, though, as a practical matter it's easier to go after the source than the thousands of individual crooks.

People sometimes compare it to cassette tapes -- they didn't destroy the record companies, they actually expanded the market. The key difference to me is that taping an album required certain costs to the crook -- buying a blank tape, the time involved in recording. Those costs limited large-scale thievery.

By contrast, digital downloading is essentially free. That's what scares record companies the most.

I think music companies are going to lose on this, simply because it's impossible to fight. They have to find a way to embrace the new reality. Subscription services that provide value-added stuff or special perks, for instance. hard-copy albums and CDs that provide things -- photo albums, lyric sheets, essays, whatever -- that you can't get online.

And realizing that most people would rather pay for stuff than steal it, all things being equal.

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Man up.

I do download music, and if I actually like the music enough I will try and buy the album at some point.

However, the reason I download as much as I do is financial. Buying a single "normal" priced CD will make a serious dent in my weekly budget, buying more than one in a month would make in effect remove a weekend (or two) of going out.

If they dropped the prices, I'd buy a lot more. But as it stands, a poor student such as myself cannot afford to go out and buy albums at a whim.