These are my personal opinions about file-sharing/pirating songs. The questions are in italics and my responses are normal font.
Downloading a song you don't own from a major label artist or from a struggling independent artist.
The only time I think this is okay is if you have no other way of getting a hold of it or if it is exceedingly expensive to do so (I'm talking upwards of $50 for one CD). (The only songs I download illegally (?) are ones that come from other countries (eg. Japan, Spain, etc.). They are not licensed in the US and for me to have it shipped from another country (if it is even possible) it will cost at least $50 with no guarantee that it will even play on my player because of the different region codes.) I do not think there is a difference between major label or independent artists (besides publicity), regardless of what some other people may think, so I believe that both can be hurtful of the artists. If you do not want the entire CD then just buy one song from iTunes for 99 cents. While I can see the point that major label artists are more likely to have more money, who are we to decide that they have "enough"? Certain people in class said that they thought they deserved to be able to download the songs for free and they think that it should be okay with the artist, but I can almost guarantee that if those same people were the one's having their music pirated then their opinion would be very different.
Downloading another copy of a song you already own.
This is think is fine. You have already bought the song, so, to me, this is no different than burning a copy of the song from the purchased CD. I just don't quite understand why someone would risk downloading a song they already have...
Shoplifting a CD from a store.
This, to me, is just stupid. Most stores have a sensor on all of the CDs and only the cashier can de-magnetize it. You are very likely to get caught and will get fined. Woohoo! You just got fined $200 on top of the price of the CD by trying to save $15. However, aside from that, my personal stance on this is the same as illegally downloading an easily accessible CD from the internet (see second half of first response).
Downloading a song to "try it out" - if you like it enough, you'll buy the CD.
This I am okay with, and have done it myself. However, you should buy it if you do like it (like you said you would) and should delete the song if you do not. What is the point of wasting hard-drive space for a song you will never listen to?
Copying a CD from a friend.
This is more iffy with me. While I have done it, I do not particularly like it. I have the same problems with this that I have with downloading a song/CD from the internet. I think one of the reasons why I am more okay with this is that the artist is only losing a couple customers (assuming more than one friend copied the CD), versus the dozens or hundreds that could be lost by making it accessible to download from the internet.
Making music you own available online to share with a couple of friends.
This, to me, is the same as being the person who loaned out the CD to be copied. I have reservations about this, but no real problems with it.
Making music you own publicly available on the Internet, such as through KazAa or Limewire.
This I do not agree with. I think there is the potential to cause much more damage to the artists by mass file-sharing. I also think there is the potential to cause significant damage to your own property by downloading a song (or songs) that has a virus in it. Before I realized what exactly file-sharing was and before I formed my own opinions on it, I used to download songs from KazAa, within less than a year I have over 700 viruses and 80 Trojans in my computer. I had to completely trash my computer and have never downloaded songs by a peer-to-peer system again.
Signing off,
Alyssa Potok
