Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Music Piracy -- Do you support your fav. artist or just d/l their music

methodtim · 04-27-2003, 02:28 AM

I kind of made it a decision somewhere along the course of living my life that kazaa and naptser (and for the old geezers, xnews, ws_ftp, and gopher) just aren't for me; although I have absolutely no problem with other people doing it. Let me make this clear before I go on: I'm not some kind of ultra straight-edge type that thinks dl'ing music, movies, game hacks, etc. is akin to stealing. There are a million and ten reasons that people dl media from the Internet rather than buying it; and for the most part, I'm philosophically in agreement with about a million of those reasons. If it isn't overly apparent, I'm trying real hard to convey that even though I have chosen not to dl "stuff," I don't view those that do with any self-righteousness or any value judgement for that matter. It might seem a bit contradictory, but I've always been a believer that the only thing that sets humans apart from animals is our ability to recognize and cope with the many dualities which life presents.

I grew up during the years before Al Gore blessed us by creating the Internet, and music was a very big part of my life - through high school and college especially. Many of my friends during that time were aspiring rockers, jumping from band to band, playing three gigs a week at the Whiskey a Go-Go with three different groups, etc. I can guess that from those experiences came a belief that when I spend buy a CD, the money I spend not only directly benefits and supports the artist(s); moreover, it's a fair and equittable trade for the enjoyment I get from the music.

(The obvious flip-side to this is the anonymity and big record-company backed products, and the ostentatiousness of the famous. I AGREE with both of these points wholeheartedly, which is why I don't begrudge anyone for dl'ing everything they can get their cable modem on).

So the (very) long-winded answer to the posted question is no, I don't dl music. I'm sure many people will think I'm a fool (hell I know I'm a fool), but all the mp3's I have are ripped from CD's which I've bought - 45 GB worth last time I bothered to check. Does this make me a better person than someone who's built a musical library throug kazaa, or merely the proverbial idiot easily parted with his dough?

04-27-2003, 02:28 AM	#18 (permalink)
methodtim Tilted Location: Lake Forest, CA aka Middle of God Damn Nowhere	I kind of made it a decision somewhere along the course of living my life that kazaa and naptser (and for the old geezers, xnews, ws_ftp, and gopher) just aren't for me; although I have absolutely no problem with other people doing it. Let me make this clear before I go on: I'm not some kind of ultra straight-edge type that thinks dl'ing music, movies, game hacks, etc. is akin to stealing. There are a million and ten reasons that people dl media from the Internet rather than buying it; and for the most part, I'm philosophically in agreement with about a million of those reasons. If it isn't overly apparent, I'm trying real hard to convey that even though I have chosen not to dl "stuff," I don't view those that do with any self-righteousness or any value judgement for that matter. It might seem a bit contradictory, but I've always been a believer that the only thing that sets humans apart from animals is our ability to recognize and cope with the many dualities which life presents. I grew up during the years before Al Gore blessed us by creating the Internet, and music was a very big part of my life - through high school and college especially. Many of my friends during that time were aspiring rockers, jumping from band to band, playing three gigs a week at the Whiskey a Go-Go with three different groups, etc. I can guess that from those experiences came a belief that when I spend buy a CD, the money I spend not only directly benefits and supports the artist(s); moreover, it's a fair and equittable trade for the enjoyment I get from the music. (The obvious flip-side to this is the anonymity and big record-company backed products, and the ostentatiousness of the famous. I AGREE with both of these points wholeheartedly, which is why I don't begrudge anyone for dl'ing everything they can get their cable modem on). So the (very) long-winded answer to the posted question is no, I don't dl music. I'm sure many people will think I'm a fool (hell I know I'm a fool), but all the mp3's I have are ripped from CD's which I've bought - 45 GB worth last time I bothered to check. Does this make me a better person than someone who's built a musical library throug kazaa, or merely the proverbial idiot easily parted with his dough? __________________ We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance Well they're are no friends of mine I say, we can go where we want to a place where they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world Leave the real one far behind and we can dance.