Re:for the nth time, copyright violation != steali (Score 2)

Seems like a lot of people here are all for Napster and Aimster, etc.... "Down with the RIAA"! In fact, I, myself am hoping the RIAA starts losing some of these legal battles. Perhaps that my hypocritcal side. One thing I think most everyone seems to be missing is that even if sharing MP3s is not "theft"... It's still not a good thing, and people don't seem to "get it". Lots of people (music artists) make their living from their music... sure, I know they get only a small percentage of what is actually made from their record sales... I too don't like the RIAA).. but even if they only get 5% of $1,000,000 that is still $50,000 for them to spend on food, bills, house payments, entertainment, etc. If full and outright MP3 sharing becomes totally legal, then perhaps instead of selling a million copies of their album, they only sell 1,000 copies, and the rest of us find it on Napster, Aimster, etc. I doubt that artist would continue to make a living from their music and probably have to find work elsewhere to feed themselves and their families. I can image that by doing that they would have less time to spend creating new music as well as not being able to go on tour as much if they needed to hold down a job... it would be harder for new bands to get started because they wouldn't start off drawing the crowds as much as bands who have been around a long time. I would imagine that this same principal should be used for all electronic media... video games, software, digital books, etc... the people creating these things we use would make a significantly smaller amount of money, forcing many to stop creating new work, in exchange for a job to get the bills paid. No, I don't really like paying for music.. everyone would like something for free! But at the same time, I certainly don't mind giving some money to a musician, writer, software developer, etc to help support the ones I like in hopes they continue to create content in the future for me to enjoy as well. It's these people's efforts that make MY life fun! I'm not for the RIAA... I think musicians and the like should get a MUCH larger portion of the money for THEIR creation, but at the same time, let's not go over board by saying if I CAN get a free copy of something, then it should be OKAY to get a free copy. david