I like using Napster very much, and many of the files sound very good from CD-R's thru my CD player in my main system (I suspect that one or two would pass "blind tests" against the original CD...most would not, of course). I don't feel it's stealing, anymore than it's stealing to record FM radio broadcasts, or even just to LISTEN to radio broadcasts. Radio broadcasts are free, and yet are we stealing the music we listen to on the radio? Some may argue that since radio broadcasts have advertisements, that they are the ones paying for the use of the music. Well, I say it's not me who's paying for these advertisements (local car dealerships, rk surgeons, etc, pay for these), and I'm under no obligation to buy the product being advertised...therefore, I AM listening to the music for free, without having to first buy it. Is that stealing? Is it stealing when you borrowed a friend's CD (back when CD first came out), and copied it onto cassette tape? I agree that there is a vast difference in the scale, and the ease of which one can download these files for free...but like I've said before, my feeling is that the music industry has foreseen this for sometime, and that's why they charged such VERY high premiums for music up until know...to pre-offset any losses they might incur, from a large group of consumers who are now downloading their music for free. It's just "give, and take", and I think the presiding judge agrees with me. I'm sure there will be all sorts of federal and state regulation of free music over the net in the future, in any case. And for those who would disagree with me here, I challenge ANY ONE of you to cite a specific musician (or even a music label), who has filed for bankruptcy SOLEY due to the free distribution of their music on the internet....this might take a while, so I won't hold my breath.
