Quote:
Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse
 It's an argument i've heard many times, and I still don't buy it (no pun intended).
One of the things many downloaders say to justify their actions is that CD's cost a matter of pence to produce, so how come they are £££ by the time they get to the shops.
Because the CD, the case, the booklet, they are not what you are paying for.
You are paying for the media.
That's where the art is, that's what cost thousands to produce, and that's what you are buying.
(note the lack of comic sans in this post  ) |
I'm not arguing that. Of course the cost of CD in the store covers more than just production.
I'm just making the case that the act of downloading music is nothing at all like stealing. When you steal something, the original owner has one less item of merchandise. When you download something, you've made a copy, and the original owner still has the same amount of merchandise. The two are fundamentally different, and I believe you can't have a decent discussion when you're muddying the water with appeals to emotion like "downloading is stealing, and thou shalt not steal, 'cause stealing's bad, m'kay?"
That said, personally I have no problem with paying for music. (Unless the artist plays the "let's milk the fans dry and release seventeen thousand different editions with multiple bonus tracks". Screw that.)