[andrewas]

Originally posted by FelixJaeger: Right, ways how I pay for music, my connection costs me money, and I then download music to sample it and see if I like it, thus it is costing me money. My mother pays for Sky TV which has music channels which is another way I can tell I like a band or not. Do they not get a share in this?

Royalities. They get paid when a radio station or TV station uses their music, they dont get paid when someone uses Kazaa to listen to the music. They also get paid for internet radio, and any other form of legitimate broadcast/distribution.

So if you have ever had a virus on your computer, you have taken it from another, and the original creator is unlikely to know about you having it, thus you are a thief? I believe you have a slightly warped idea of the way calling someone a thief works. From what you said I just made anyone with a computer almost a thief.

Viruses are freeware. They are released into the public domain, the virus author does not desire to make a profit from sales of the virus. They are not stolen, they are given.

So? I've seen a lot of money in my life, if these starving artists want any more money than they already have then they are no better than football players, can somebody not be content with being rich and famous without becoming stupidly rich taking every penny they can get?

Replace "artist" with "distibutor" and I would tend to agree with you. However, you are aquiring a product which is not (usualy, there are exceptions) in the public domain and which is licensed to an artist and his distributors. You are not making a payment to either the artist or the distributor for this product, and therefore you do not have the right to play the music. In the purely technical sense, at the least, you are a thief. Of course, I doubt any of them would hold it against you if you bought the music a day or so later, but if you decide you dont like it you dont buy it and that is definately theft.

Thank god you didnt bring up the analogy again I hate explaining those. Felix p.s. this is a good argument.