[battousai]

"I would think that on a conservative forum, we could agree that value is set by the marketplace. How do you set the value of a service. How about the value of your work? "

and

"What difference does it make? If you steal something that you never would have bought in the first place, it is still stolen."

so the marketplace has decided that mp3s have a value of 0c, since no one charges to share their collection of mp3s, the market has also decided that CDs are overpriced, why isn't the RIAA responding to that? so market forces are only good when it goes their way?

Work and services have a measurable value, as in the lack of whatever was to be done not being completed or delivered, etc.. how do you measure the value of an mp3?




who owns the mp3?

[js1138]

how do you measure the value of an mp3?

The value of anything is what people are willing to pay -- apparently 99 cents for a downloaded song. The fact that a given thing is easy to steal does not lower its market value. Markets assume that theft is unusual.

Who owns a book? You are certainly free to transfer books and magazines, but you are not free to republish the contents. Again, the ease of copying and publishing digital content does not change the concept of honesty.

Having said that I have to admit to having a dozen songs downloaded from Napster. I quit downloading when Napster died. I might resume downloading when CD quality downloads are available at reasonable prices, with rights comparable to ownership of a CD. I don't mind paying, but I want quality better than typical MP3, and I don't want to worry about rights.