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Originally Posted by MicroChick
...I was one of the original beta testers for Napster long before people were bitching about users stealing music. I have paid for more music than anyone I know, and if I choose to share my music with others for FREE, that is my damn business.
I met many creators of music on Napster who were thrilled that their music had been discovered by the masses. They encouraged music lovers to download their songs, free of charge.
I believe the internet should be as free as possible. All of these restraints and restrictions are evil. Not everyone has your money, Nick Babe, to buy music at will. The music companies are money grubbing assholes as well as many of the artists who rip us off with lousy CD's with one good selection amidst a bunch of junk which is totally overpriced. You can add the movie industry to the rip-off artist list.
It's a real kick to see you content owners bitching about people stealing music. The majority of the porn content isn't worth buying, let alone stealing.
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I have never seen so many incorrect and downright stupid statements in one place. First, let me start off by saying that I used to be big in the file sharing world. I worked for a long time helping with the open source Napster protocol project (
http://opennap.sourceforge.net). I ran an opennap server that had thousands of users on it at any given time.
You sharing music with everyone is NOT "your damn business." It's theft, plain and simple. Fortunately the legal system agrees. People don't view digital media as property but it most certainly is.
Music, like porn costs money to produce therefore it can not and should not be free. It should never be up to the consumer to decide if they pay for it or not. Can I go to a car dealership, take a car but never pay for it because I don't feel it's "worth the money"? Absolutely not. If you want the car, you will pay for it. Music and porn should be the same way.
Everything takes money to produce and therefore takes money to purchase. Invest a little money, get returns on your investment. The greater the return, the better. That's the way business works. Record companies are free to set their own prices. If you don't feel the music is worth the money, you shouldn't get the music.
Almost all of the musicians that wanted their music on Napster were generally unknown artists who were trying to get their names out. Most big names were not in favor of having their new album that isn't released to the public for another two weeks available on Napster for free.