Writing Assignment 9/ File Sharing

I think that file sharing is a huge issue that needs to be solved. I download songs online for various reasons which I find acceptable. For starters, I used to own a very large collection of music, but a certain crazy individual destroyed all of my CDs. Since I cannot afford to re-purchase all of those CDs, I will occasionally download some of those songs. I also own many CDs that are at my parent's house in Texas, so rather than having them ship me the CDs, I'll download some songs that I really enjoy. I don't think this qualifies as theft because they are songs and albums that I have already purchased.

I also download songs that I hear on the radio and enjoy. These are songs on albums that I would never purchase, either because I don't like the artist enough or I know I wouldn't like the CD. This isn't stealing either because how am I stealing something that I would never purchase anyway?

I believe that downloading a song from an independent artist is acceptable as well, as long as it's for personal use and not for distribution. This kind of download could potentially help an artist because a fan could generate more fans through word of mouth.

I would never download an entire album through file sharing. First of all the quality would be horrible. Second, when there is an ablum that I actually like entirely, I prefer to have the physical CD to listen to it on my stereo or in my car. I would never steal a CD from a store because that is just plain stupid. Why risk so much for so little? Shoplifting is an obvious method of "stealing".

I have copied a CD from a friend, and once again I don't think that qualifies as stealing because someone already paid for the CD. Albums are far too overpriced these days so until the record companies lower their prices, I will continue to download songs.

Another reason why I download certain things is because of availability. I love music in Spanish and I am not about to go all they way to the Mission to look for a Latin music store. If the music industry made it easier to access more kinds of music then we wouldn't have to download songs.

I like the idea proposed by the EFF to create a voluntary collective association. I would pay a small fee in order to download unlimited songs without any risk and I think that many others would do the same. We could get safe, high quality music and the profit driven companies could get their money.