[The Old Hoosier]

No one pays for what they can get for free. We now can get free music with CD quality. Therefore, no one except very honest, scrupulous people will pay.

Soon, there will be no money to be made in music. So people won't be able to make a living writing or recording it.

So enjoy the free music you're stealing, because as soon as artists stop writing songs--the logical economic conclusion of this ruling--then people will not get music for free any more.

It's the same argument for prescription drugs: if you make them free or force them to be cheap by refusing to respect trademarks (a la Canada), then no one will develop new drugs.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Hello? Did you read my post? Did you see the part where I said that EVERY song that I have downloaded was GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE! Every single one. I have stolen NOTHING, and I demand you retract your allegation.

Furthermore, I am an artist myself, I give away my music for free because I choose to. I like the idea of being able to give away free music to anyone who wants to download it. If I made my living from music then I would choose to try to sell it, but since it is a hobby of mine I choose to give it away for free. Do you have a problem with that as well?

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Maybe, maybe not. Just remember that these same predictions were made when audio and video cassettes came out. The music market is still around.

I could just as easily make a reasonable claim that this will be a good thing for the music industry. It will allow artists to get into the recording game much more cheaply and get rid of much of the middle-man. I would think that this could give us a much more lively and vibrant music world than now exists (similar to tin-pan alley in Chicago in the late 1800s).

[BJungNan]

By your reasoning, cars should be illegal because people use them to rob banks.

There are legitimate reasons people share and swap files. Because you have a problem with people stealing your material using programs that allow file sharing is no reason I should have to suffer the loss of my rights.

I'm not copying your music. I do swap files from my computer to other computers (my files, not yours).

Solve your problem without creating a problem for others. There are ways. You just want the easy way out which is to force everyone to do you work for you and get the courts to okay it.

Is copying music a problem? Yes. Is it my problem? No.

[Tauzero]

"So people won't be able to make a living writing or recording it."

Which is not quite the same thing as saying they will not write or record music.

"So enjoy the free music you're stealing, because as soon as artists stop writing songs--the logical economic conclusion of this ruling--then people will not get music for free any more."

Artists generally do what they do because they have a passion for it. If they produce works of art that other people enjoy, they will paid for it, as they always have been paid for it.

"It's the same argument for prescription drugs: if you make them free or force them to be cheap by refusing to respect trademarks (a la Canada), then no one will develop new drugs."

It's not the same at all. The motivations for producing drugs are very different.

Not too long ago, historically, a composer's work was not protected at all like today, and there was no means at all to record it. The artists then were worse off, from the standpoint of intellectual property,than artists of today, even with this latest ruling. Yet this dismal period saw some of the finest music ever produced by Western civilization, by such men as Mozart.

The claim that there will be "no new music" is just ludicrous.

[Rodney King]

Soon, there will be no money to be made in music.

Most bands make most of their money from live performances.

[BJungNan]

the logical economic conclusion of this ruling

The logical economic conclusion of this ruling is that the record industry has to find a way to solve its problem without infringing on the rights of others. You don't see banks trying to make cars illegal because cars are used to rob banks.

[AmericanDave]

You realy believe that those poor artists are going to be put out of buisness? I pay for what I could get for free; but I can sample music to see IF i want to pay an outrageous $15 for a new CD; and I do once I've sampled good music.....