Wow. This has been a lot of fun watching you guys go back and forth. And I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one with a sense of morality here. My faith in humanity has been restored. Thanks tonybradley and mohaughn.

I think that this thread has been an excellent exercise in futility . . . meaning that no matter how much you try to appeal to people's sense of logic and/or morality they're still going to, not only do immoral and illogical things, but try to justify and excuse it.

So, I think that we should let this thread die (but not before I throw another two of my cents in!)

I don't share my files on line, because of this RIAA bot or bug. But I think that file sharing should be free. The internet needs to stay free. But, for people who sell, you are theives and you should recieve the full out come of the law. You are no better than a drug pusher on the street selling dope to little kids. Well, that may be to hard, but we do need to keep our way of life free. The history of file sharing has told us that people are feed up with spending thier hard earned cash on crapy music.
I'd like to say that you made several good and well-thought-out points Fred, but I'd be lying if I did. First, no one is saying that file sharing shouldn't be free. If programmers want to make freeware or shareware, that is their prerogative. But that is not what music is (unless the artist wants to give away their music). The internet is not free. I know I pay for a connection (I don't go to school anymore) and I pay for things that I buy online (books, etc.), so I don't know what you're talking about.

And " . . . for people who sell, you are thieves". I'm going to file that one under "most hypocritical thing I've ever heard." All I'm going to say is that it is already illegal to trade music, so I wonder if you think that you "should receive the full outcome of the law."

Anyway, Fred, I don't mean to pick on you, but I think that your justifications for downloading musics seems to be typical of the type and I found your posts entertaining. But, now that I think about it, you're not that bad; at least you only download crappy music, most other people download top 40 stuff, I think.

Oh, BTW, there's another technology that allows you to listen to music for free. It's called the radio. Maybe you should try it.

(I use sarcasm as a defense mechanism )