Feelings on Napster?

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.

Right on Carl! I sure hope they don't search my hard drive and arrest me for stealing. It might be kind of hard to come up with a defense for 2700 counts of theft!

I may be wrong, but I thought radio stations payed liscensing fees.

It's still free music for the end user. I don't pay the fees, but I still get to listen. Is that stealing?

To understand where the lines are drawn one has to, first, want to know and, second, take time to become aware of what the law says. Mostly its common sense, but not always. Do understand my belief is this country is so mired in legalities that the average person is doomed to eventually violate them. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. That's not an absolution for intentional theft, just a recognition of how ignorance and circumstance can manifest itself. But enough of my disgust with the legal climate in the USA. We don't buy music, we pay a royalty for restricted use. It's all right there on the package. When a radio station broadcasts copyrighted materials they pay a royalty, too. The restricted use granted generally does not include right of duplication for distribution. Stated simply, if it seems you're getting something for nothing you are probably breaking the law. Further, no judge has agreed that Napster is without wrong doing. Instead, they were granted a stay of any "cease and desist" order until an actual ruling is handed down. This is a very common occurance in cases of this nature and has nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Such stays are allowed to specifically avoid undue damage to a company. It is understandably a harder concept to grasp. As for what the music industry charges, I have serious doubts it has anything to do with "foresight" on the music industry's behalf. Instead, since prices have risen gradually over the years, it's simply a matter of them charging what the market will bear. In conjunction with a measure of greed, of course. Capitalism at it's finest. (I am not a lawyer, but certainly played one above. My knowledge of the subject is derived from first hand experience in legal proceedings over copyright issues in the software industry. There is no intent to imply this knowledge is necessarily accurate or applicable. It is essentially my opinion, so use it at your own risk.)