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I remember, browsing Napster and coming up with, of all things, a recording of Eric Matthews singing his heart out.
The humor and wit that went into his recording, the way that the idea of his truth was implicitly reworked to refer to the revolution which they were participating in, was as captivating as the beautiful music itself. This was in the good old days, before the record industries began a series of draconian lawsuits, ruining people's lives for the crime of sharing a few songs.
It is difficult to take their arguments against downloading music software seriously when their actions are so much worse than those of music pirates. Users of services like Ares, Soulseek, or bittorrent may be getting something for nothing, but any individual user does little or nothing to hurt the record industry. The record industry, because with their powerful lobbyists they practically write the laws, can sue people for tens of thousands of dollars for using downloading music software to get literally a few songs. Even if they are right, and the illegal downloading music software is driving them out of business, it is hard to have much sympathy for an industry which is willing to go to such draconian lengths to protect their investments. Perhaps we would all be better off without them.
Copyright infringement is not just direct copying and replication of intellectual property for commercial use. Even stand alone consumers like you and me will be guilty of copyright infringement if we blatantly copy material that does not belong to us without the explicit permission of the owner or producer of the work. In fact, most countries have recently passed laws against the exploitation of internet specific resources.
While the laws may differ from country to country, one thing is for certain. Copyright infringement is a big blow to all genuine businesses worldwide. To those of you who are wondering what the big deal is, imagine this scenario. You own a beautiful and expensive watch. You proudly display it in front of your house so that everyone can appreciate its beauty. Imagine your horror when some passer by takes a look at it, likes it and calmly walk up to pocket it and move away. You would scream murder and call the police right?