Interesting. They're both digital code on a medium. The main difference is what the medium is. I'd submit that it's a lack of knowledge on your part.

(not trying to insult you)


I think, based on inflation, CDs are similar in price to records (I remember the 70s and 80s.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

But the difference between a CD and a file on my hard drive is... the file on my hard drive costs nothing to reproduce. They both are digital information on a medium, but in the case of a file on my hard drive, that medium was already mine. If I buy a song online, I'm providing the medium to store the song. So what have I paid for? Nothing more than the privelage to hear a song, and that doesn't phsyically exist. Then you take it upon yourself to preserve the data, and all kinds of problems arise from that.

How much did you pay for vinyl records in the 80's?

The difference is if you burn a CD and sell it to some who wanted to buy that music, that's copyright infringement in the classical sense. If you share your music with someone, that's sharing.
We used to tape records on cassette, and that was called fair use.
What the music and software industries are both sending boatloads of cash to lobbyists for is because they are both in the business of getting a lot of money for selling a small amount of packaged information.
They both dominate the existing marketing channels and are realizing monopoly profits. Now here comes the internet, a much better way to distribute information, and one with barriers to entry, on the internet, these companies have no advantage over anyone else.
So they try to discourage the use of the internet, by unrealistically pricing the internet product, to try to prop up the existing channels that they dominate.

The second thing that's going on is that the technology of sharing has improved. Sharing has gone from "come over and listen to this", to "here's a tape I made of that new record", to "here's the file", and over the internet you can share that file with a million people.

The old business model doesn't work, the new internet business model, is that a band will have it's own website, where people can buy t-shirts and hats, and even CDs. The Internet is all about cutting out the middleman and the Music Industry is the ultimate middle man.
But if the music goes over to the internet, then the talent interfaces directly with the public, and there is no room for the middleman, unless they construct this legal fiction, where they can charge the same for a file over the internet as they charge for a physical recording, that they produce, inventory, ship to a store, the store gets a markup, etc. How about drop all that cost structure, but still get the same money, it works in fantasy world, but not in reality.

Unenforceable laws are bad laws.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Dubbing a record onto a tape (while keeping the record for yourself) is fair use. Fair use also allows you to make backup copies for personal use or to transfer the medium on which the information is stored. It also allows you to let friends listen to your music, but you cannot give them copies of it. Sharing your music by allowing others to copy it onto their computer is copyright infringement. You do not own the music, you are purchasing a license for personal use. If you chose to give that music to another person you can, but you must erase any other copies of it that you have. These laws have been around before the internet. The only difference now is that people actually get caught doing it which never happened before. We do not have the right to give away information when other are entitled to payment for its use.

The internet in no way cuts out the recording industry. The industry still fronts the money for artists to record their music, get it produced, and promoted. The internet has not changed that. All the internet has done is to give the retailers some competition which has driven the price of music down. No major artists will be able to record and produce their own music and be able to sell it everywhere. Even if bands have their own websites, the label still makes the investment and provides the engineers, produces, graphic artists, and every other person that has a part in getting an album recorded.

Well, technically, the song does physically exist as a pattern of electrons on a platter in a hard drive. It exists in the same way that it does on a CD as a pattern of indentations on a layer of aluminum.

IIRC, albums were 7 or 8 bucks when I was buying them.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

The problem, of course, isn't my making a CD mix for a friend. The problem is uploading a rip of a CD so that hundreds of thousands of users download it. Clearly one is fair use and one isn't.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

That is a little misleading. The data is stored magnetically on the platter. It's not just a pattern of electrons.

And it doesn't matter, because it's not what I'm paying for when I download music.

I used to paint quite a bit, and sold many of my paintings on Ebay. Do you think I could have charged as much if all I was selling was a digital picture of my painting? It would be more or less worthless in that form, even though the painting is accurately represented. Even a print has to exist physically to be worth something. So I guess that's what my problem is with digital music. It feels like quite a rip off to pay for something only to be given the privelage to view or hear it.

Still doesn't make sense, though. What can you do with a CD that you can't do with a downloaded file?

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

I'm sorry to differ with you, pramjockey.

Hey, you're allowed. I don't mean to come off as attacking; just trying to gain understanding.

__________________
Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.