Almost free online music?

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
Furthermore, popular artists are in no way hurting for cash (even after the record companies take their huge chunk out of the artist's earnings).

Why should this matter at all?

GoT

[/ QUOTE ]

It matters because people act like downloaders are taking the bread out of their kids' mouths.

[GuyOnTilt]

GoT: Do you have a problem with me downloading a CD I would have never purchased? Either way, nobody is getting my money, yet I will still gain by listening to the music.

Let me preface by saying that I never put anyone down or tell them they're a bad person for d/l'ing music. I've made a moral choice to pay for all the music I own and listen to, and if the subject ever comes up with friends or whomever, I give my side to it and will point out flaws in their logic. It's currently against the law, yes, but I purposefully drive 90 mph all the time so who am I to judge anybody for that reason. If you don't have a moral dilemna stealing in certain situations (or all situations) then that's your perogative, and I have no delusions that everybody else's set of morals should match mine.

GoT

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with this part of your post but that doesn't make stealing okay.

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is true, then I retract my statment that you're a huge noob.

However, I still think your initial analogy is terrible. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[GuyOnTilt]

It matters because people act like downloaders are taking the bread out of their kids' mouths.

I still don't see how it matters. Is stealing only wrong if you're stealing someone's necessities? Would stealing a stanger's $1,000 Gucci handbag be okay in your opinion while stealing your neighbor's $1,000 bedset be wrong? Do you see theft for personal gain justifiable just so long as the victim can afford it in your eyes?

GoT

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]

I simply went out of my way to prove that the analogy that compares downloading to shoplifting CDs is completely stupid. This analogy is one of my biggest pet peeves.


[/ QUOTE ]

Can you point out where you 'proved' this analogy was wrong?

If you understand these economics so much... have you ever heard of the term FIXED COSTS. You think if a product has 0 variable costs (digital media), it is not a physical product. Costs went into making the song, even if the marginal cost to produce one more is zero.

Also, digital media is in fact physical, it is small, but physical. Do you think it takes up no mass in our universe? Wrong. You are adjusting definitions of stealing to try to disprove the analogy, but in fact the analogy is perfect.

[BusterStacks]

So we agree that there are certain laws that we are willing to break based on the benefits we would receive. Do you not consider the consequences of significant speeding to be a moral issue? If you do, then we are in the same boat here.

[BusterStacks]

No, the analogy really is terrible because it implies greater costs than what are actually incurred. The net loss of physically stealing a CD is many times greater than what ultimately amounts to not purchasing it.

[Michael Davis]

Stealing CDs is fine because they cost less than sofas.

-Michael

[GuyOnTilt]

So we agree that there are certain laws that we are willing to break based on the benefits we would receive. Do you not consider the consequences of significant speeding to be a moral issue? If you do, then we are in the same boat here.

Isn't that what I just said? I understand why the vast majority of people I know d/l music for free and do everything they can to try to justify it. It's easy and it's free! Why wouldn't they want to do it? I get that. The problem is most of their reasoning and how they have mentally justified it to themselves is bogus. They are (in my opinion) just trying to find anything even remotely justifiable to grab onto so they can feel okay continuing to steal and don't really believe what they're doing is right. It's just easier. I very seriously don't have a moral issue with speeding. I've thought it through and have had discussions about it and I'm a very logical person when it comes to debating and so on, and I really don't have a moral issue with it. Stealing I do. It'd be easy for me to take a lot of the statements in this thread that are being used to justify stealing music and hold onto them and go on stealing music, but I don't because I don't truly believe them. They're full of holes and flawed logic. If I truly did feel stealing music was perfectly fine morally, I almost certainly would do it.

GoT

[GuyOnTilt]

...but in fact the analogy is perfect.

Obviously I'm against stealing music, but to say that analogy is perfect is just wrong. Don't combat flawed logic with more flawed logic.

GoT