I like McDonalds approach. Get a free download when you purchase a Big Mac. I am assuming that in order to download the music, that you will have to register and run a custom application. Thus enabling the record industry to gather your MAC address and other personal identifyable information, that will help them track you down later when you download music illegally. But as I said, I have not looked, but it would not suprise me.

On the subject of swapping: If I remember correctly copying tapes was only allowed for personal use. You could record over the air stuff and share with your friends, but copying a purchased tape and selling/giving it to your friends was still illegal. Not to mention that we did not have the prevalent Internet access where you could share an artists song with the millions of others that like a particular sound. This is where the record industry is really loosing money.

Let's face it, just like the college kid that is working at McDonalds who dreams of success in the business world, the record industry and the recording artists have the right to earn as much money as they can. If they charge too much money, which I think they do, people will stop buying their music. Just because someone doesn't agree with the price of item, that does not give that individual the right to steal in any fashion or form. Especially when we are talking about something as fleeting as the "hot" hit of the day.