Downloading .mp3s

[TrOiK]

Originally Posted by Venice_native

If you had the choice, would you want one dollar, or five?

Teh 5.......

[Venice_native]

Right, so it'd be resonable for an artist to want 150,000 dollars over 100,000.

[Master.America]

Originally Posted by shimshimheyxD

[1] I can't afford to buy all the CDs. Besides, I only want 2 or 3 songs on the disc. Why should I waste money buying the whole album?

My Response - I cannot afford to buy a Ferrari, but surely I should not steal one. This is called LIFE, people. We will not always be able to buy everything we want. Live with it. As a Christian.

Faulty analogy. That comparison doesn't make any sense.

Originally Posted by shimshimheyxD

[2] Everyone's doing it. And by everyone, I mean millions of people. It can't be wrong if that many people are doing it.

My Response - Millions of people believe in Islam. Need I say more?

Bandwagon appeal. Plus, that has absolutely nothing to do with your argument.

Originally Posted by shimshimheyxD

[3] I'm not selling the .mp3s or anything like that, so I'm not really hurting anybody. I'm just "sharing" files.

Response - Owning something you did not purchase is stealing. And yes, every .mp3 we download hurts an artist, a producer, a truck driver who delivers CDs to stores, a poor artist who worked on the label design, an avg. salary worker who mixed the tracks, and hundreds of others involved in making just one album. Many people are affected by your .mp3 (and movie) downloading.

Good argument. This statement is a proven fact.

Point: Try to make logical arguments, please.

In my defense, CDs I want are nigh impossible to find in stores, much less in my area. Even in some of the more prestigious music stores in the bay area, I have trouble finding names I like, such as Ray Gelato, Atomic Fireballs, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers... the list goes on. I own the CDs that I have been able to find--that is, BBVD and SNZ CDs. Many of the groups I want music for are don't even sell their music in stores.

Also, much of the music I listen to is used for educational purposes. I am a college student and a dedicated musician; as such, I analyze most (if not all) music I listen to for its technical aspects as well as its aesthetic value.

[Nicholas The Slide]

In response to it actually helping artists (music downloading), i read an article on the harvard buisness school website saying that probably 90% of peopel who download are muiddle aged prople who, in lking one song will buy the CD anyways, and that downloading systems are too quickly shuned off as ilegitamate, that artists/record labeles should use them to their advantage instad of fighting it.

[The_Jelly]

Originally Posted by EEX_ca_aok

I'm an atheist, so I shouldn't even give a damm, but that's one of the most ignorant posts I've ever seen. How about you go kill yourself so you can be with your non-existant god? Nobody says your religion is right, and the fact that you're using religion as an excuse is pathetic. The entire world is not Christian, and so using a commandment as an argument is ignorant and wrong.

Artists don't benefit that much from CD sales, as at least 80% of the profit goes to the CD publishers. The artists make most of their money from the record deal itself, not the sales.

Pirating games and movies is actually much more harmful than downloading mp3s.

No religion is right or wrong. Its just there to explain things cant explain like who made us. @ ShimshimheyxD, you are really are a foot-washed baptist. Anything good or benificial you claim to be a sin, you christians are really amusing. Just to hear/read you talk about your contradiciting dogma.

[ThingInTheCoat]

I notice that some people either did not finish the entire post, or skipped over certain parts, namely that he DIDN'T WRITE THAT. It was his pastor, and he never claimed he supported this viewpoint -- he was merely submitting it for intelligent debate, not knee-jerk insults against Christians and Christianity in general. Quit jumping the gun, people.

Some of this does raise some valid arguments, perhaps moreso for some people than others. If you're not Christian and don't hold Christian values, then fine, such a religious-based argument wouldn't really apply to you. If you do live by such beliefs, then yes, this can be a weighty subject, since it is a Christian sin to steal. And it's black and white from that perspective: stealing is wrong, and stealing intellectual property is as wrong as stealing physical property.

From a secular viewpoint, which is where I'm going to describe my opinions, it can be composed of shades of grey. Music sharing can indeed help spread the name of certain artists, and a lot of my CDs that I have purchased were at first partially-downloaded. I would not have bought a lot of them otherwise, because fifteen bucks is a lot to risk on someone's mere recommendation or a single song on the radio. Is it really stealing if I'm merely "sampling" certain songs before I hand out cash for the real thing? In the end, the result is the same if I hadn't downloaded the song: they get my money anyway.

The rest of my feelings can be mostly summed by the following: You need to go into the matter with a sense of responsibility. If you want to see if you like a CD before buying, then go ahead and sample away. If you can easily afford the CD, don't download the whole damn thing. If it's too obscure to be found in stores or it's out-of-print, then download it. If you only like a few songs on a CD, then perhaps try one of the paid download services, which usually only cost a dollar per song (however, granted, those services suck as far as their insane protection measures go, so I still rely on music-sharing for those songs. I will, however, gladly switch over once they stop being so anal with protection).

In the end, we download music because we like it. So, religious implications aside, if it is within our abilities or financial ranges to do so, shouldn't we somehow support those who create the music we love so that they continue to? In the end, it's kind of selfish for us downloaders to expect people to entertain us for free when and if we are perfectly able to give them what they are requesting -- fifteen bucks for an entire CD. This also supports those not directly involved in the music-making but upon whom we are dependent for receiving it: shipping departments, recording studios, etc.

Conversely, artists should also be glad to see that people are enjoying their music -- not seeing dollar signs deflating, as many are only seeing.

POST NOTES:

I leave you with one question: Does illegal downloading glorify God?

Not everything is meant to glorify God. Walking my dog doesn't glorify God, to my knowledge. Playing Starcraft doesn't glorify God, yet is completely and morally neutral.

Millions of people believe in Islam. Need I say more?

If you excuse my waxing Anglo-Saxon for a moment, what the f*** kind of comparison is that? In support of some of the Christian-bashers here, the guy who did write this does appear to be one of those "my religion is right, yours is wrong" holier-than-thou kind of people. So screw him.

[Ntrik_]

Wouldnt the world be so much better, if we all had one united religion, which every single human beings on earth bleieved in?


Anyways, illegal dling, well like Snagg said before, I think its a good way of advertising for your music..

dont know, dont care, i download and buy music, so im good.

[Knox]

Originally Posted by N_LeGenD)

Wouldnt the world be so much better, if we all had one united religion, which every single human beings on earth bleieved in?

Ya and if people like diden't kill eachother or steal or lie or whatever. I bet the world would be better. Man that makes alot of sense.

[Dream_Walker]

My Response - I cannot afford to buy a Ferrari, but surely I should not steal one. This is called LIFE, people. We will not always be able to buy everything we want. Live with it. As a Christian.

Yes, but we don't buy 2-3 parts of a Ferrari, we are practically forced to buy the whole thing if we want to make a purchase.

[Kuro Neko]

Yes, this is totally the cycle of life as it is now, but everyone believing in one thing is beyond reach as it seems, if that would happen or like to think of happening. The thing with downloading mp3s from downloading programs like kazaa, e-donkey, etc, it hurts the money progression toward the band. A lot of people, of course will just keep downloading without care of the album, and burn it on a CD, it'll keep happening, and if one of those downloader mp3 programs go down, another will just pop up anyways. It's not only the mp3s, but videos, games, pictures, etc. So instead of that, worry as well about movies people get before it's even released. I agree, not everything is all about glorifying God, and people will just keep this progression of downloading on