Music download services

[FEJ]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Cool, then I shouldn't have any qualms about getting this stuff through less ethical means since not belonging to the biggest unions is tacit permission to steal their works.

Ethics is relative. If you don't find it unethical, then your right, you shouldn't have any qualms. If you do find it unethical, and still do it, then there is something amiss. IMO.

Ethical and Illegal are also 2 different terms.
While making a copy for personal use is legal, making a copy and distributing it is illegal, as GD said. I do understand wanting to use Jhymn to listen to the music on the Tivo, and that still falls under "copy for personal use" IMO. You can get the same by burning an Audio CD, which you are allowed to do under the TOS.

Don't get me wrong, I have music that I didn't pay the artist for. I never said I was a saint. It just seemed to me that Disneyfan25863's statement was a little sugercoated.

Originally Posted by DisneyFan25863

AllOfMP3.com is just as illegal as using Limewire. None of the profits they make go to the record company. The nice thing about it though is that it allows you to download the file in like 40 different formats, and they charge you per MB rather than per song.

He even said it was illegal, but it was "nice." Why not say it like it is:

Originally Posted by Ubergeek42

paraphrasing DisneyFan25863
AllPfMP3.com is a better way to steal music. There are more options for download than Limewire, and although not free, you get charged for MB not per song.

We could have the same arguments (and have) about the semantics of "Illegal." Just as with speeding in your car or crossing on a red light, whether or not "everyone is doing it" doesn't make it less illegal. No, I don't agree with every law out there, but the laws are there for the "common good." Nor should we be blind sheep and run to "Carrousel" the minute the jewel starts to blink.

Don't think that I was getting all high and mighty either. That would make me a complete hypocrite. I just don't think that "everyone does it" is a good argument. (Not that anyone specifically stated that, but I know it is a justification that I fight with myself and since it popped into my head, felt it was worth bringing into the discussion.)
I have done all of the things discussed here, and sometimes still do, but I do feel someone had to play "Devil's Advocate" (or in this case, "Angel's Advocate" ) for the sake of discussion.
I really do like hearing how things like this affect others, or is it just me who has these internal dialogs about "Right and Wrong."

I can't wait for €'s "Intellectual Property" thread.