Downloading and the Morality Thereof

[TheAbominatrix]

By Paul, Ringo, and the Lennon and Harrison families, you mean Michael Jackson, right?

He owns to the rights to further use of the songs. They still get money for the albums with their voices on there. Those're still their intellectual properties.

For example, when The Royal Tenenbaums used Beatles covers, it was Jackson who got the money and who allowed the use in general. If they used the original tracks with the voices of John, Paul, George and/or Ringo, the surviving Beatles and the families would be getting it, though I believe with a cut to Jackson.

[MecaKane]

I think downloading movies is bad, because that's what those commericals say.
I think downloading music is bad, because iTunes and my iPod are so damn cool and trendy.

[Doc Sark]

I wouldn't walk into a record store and steal a CD single off the shelf, so I wouldn't download music for free. When I do download music, it's through iTunes. I pay my 79p and get the track I want to listen too.

[CloudSquallandZidane]

Downloading music is stealing, it is wrong, but that doesnt stop me from doing it, i can either not listen to music, and sit in my room wondering what to do, or i can download some songs i like and hear them, either way the cd isnt getting bought.

[Skogs]

A large proprotion of the CDs I own I probably wouldn't have bought had I not downloaded a few tracks of them first to see if I liked them.

[Shadow Nexus]

Urm...I download music and feel absolutely no remorse. Theft? In Spain, the SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, in English "General Society of Authors and Editors") has a tax in every blank CD you buy, so prices are 30% up: this tax goes to the authors that sell more CDs, so when I buy a blank CD, I am paying the assholes in the Spanish crap-music panorama. More? They also want to tax hard drives and even DSL connections. It's damn abuse against the consumer, because it presumes that every CD bought will be used to hurt their industry. I thought people had to be prooven guilty and supposed innocent, but this time they just asume we are guilty. I didn't use to download that much, but ever since SGAE has got so greedy, I have decided I will play their game: I won't buy any CD that is related to them. What does that mean? It means I wont even buy a blank CD, instead of purchasing CDs here, whenever I go to Andorra I get a massive quantity that may last until my next trip there (this means, like 200 good quality blank CDs at 1/4 of the price I get them in Spain thanks to the fact it's tax free). Screw SGAE, they are a damn mafia.

Also, whenever I buy a CD, considering my style of music, I don't need to look in the shops. I just need to go to the musician and ask him for a CD. Yay for underground songwriter music. There's also music I can find in stores, maybe I can buy it, jsut because I feel a lot of respect for the author. For example, I do buy my favourite singer CDs (Luis Eduardo Aute) even if his CD company is tied to the mafia, but it's one of the exceptions. I also know Aute personally andf it feels kind of bad to download his music.

[Crazy the Clown]

As long as you're just using it for your own enjoyment, what's the big deal?

[RSL]

I used to download music but I don't anymore. This isn't because of morals, but because I find it to be a large pain to find music to download now a days.

[Doc Sark]

As long as you're just using it for your own enjoyment, what's the big deal?

The big deal is; you are depriving those that don't make a great deal of money out of the music business, and believe me its not all MTV Cribs and Platinum records, from hard earned cash.

If music downloaders had a damned bit of respect for the amount of people it takes to produce a record, they would realise that somewhere along the line they are hurting someone financially.

[CloudSquallandZidane]

If music downloaders had a damned bit of respect for the amount of people it takes to produce a record, they would realise that somewhere along the line they are hurting someone financially.

Very true.

But like i said either i can not listen to music or i can listen to music, either way that CD aint gettin bought.

EDIT: Thats why i stopped downloading movies because i would go to the movies to see the movies if i didnt download them.

[Gnostic Yevon]

I never really got into D/Ling music. I think it stealing, but on the whole i'd have less problems doing it on products that are not available in the USA. The reason being that it might be the only way to see it. (Of course that probably works double for PAL and gamers since you never get anything good) But really I don't see why a j-pop group would be worried about me downloading an mp3 from napster if I can't walk into a store and buy it. Now if I can buy it, then obviously it would be wrong not to pay for it.