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"What other product are you forbidden to sample before you buy?"

Art, clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture, computers, beer etc… Of course there's probably a rare exception to each of those. Just like how you buying 10 CDs a year of sampled music is the exception to the all the kids downloading millions of tracts worth billions if dollars with zero intention of spending their money on what they can get for free.

I don't like the recording industry any more than you do, hyping their over priced crap. I also don’t like the advertisement industry or the insurance industry, but they all deserve legal protection.

Art, clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture, computers, beer etc…

Anyone buy "Art" without looking at it?
Don't most people try on clothes and shoes before buying?
Women try on jewelry regularly. Often without any intention of buying.
Would you buy a chair without sitting in it?
Who would buy a computer without trying it first?
Visit a brewery and you can sample all the beer you want.

You mean you can't look at a painting to see if you like it before you buy? You can't try on a shirt, slacks, or shoes? You can't try on a necklace or watch? You can't sit on a couch you might buy? You don't know the operating system or speed of a computer before you purchase one? You are totally blind when buying a music CD. You may have heard one song, but the rest could be crap.
Also, remember that this same argument took place when casette tapes and video recorders hit the markets - and it doesn't look like either of those had any great effect on the industry.

Want to stop kids from downloading and not buying the album? Offer them something more in the CD jacket that they can't get from a download: stickers, tattoos, patches, free offers for example. If a kid goes to school and every other kid has a No Doubt patch on his or her backpack, I guarantee that kid wouldn't give a hoot whether he could download that album for free or not.

I see this as being more about capitalism bringing about innovation - something the record industry can't seem to grasp.