Eric wrote:
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According to some people's logic, the Journey album is up for grabs at Napster because it isn't released yet - that that somehow makes it not stealing.

I guess then if somebody that worked for say Microsoft stole a new OS they were working on, and began distributing it on Ebay it would be okay because the product isn't for sale yet?
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Without incriminating myself, I'll say that I have seen every OS from Microsoft since Windows 95 far in advance of it's official release date, both in beta and the full release form. If I did happen to try it out, I always got the official CD later on anyway if for no other reasons than 1) Hard drives weren't always as big as they are now and 2) CD burners weren't always as inexpensive.

In anyevent, Eric, you are putting words into my mouth that I never said. When did I say one word about Ebay, or about making money off of Napster at all? The CD's I will burn from my own Napster downloads are for my personal use. As I said in a previous post, they are 99% material that is not at all available commercially, nor likely will ever be. And if Van Halen, The Stones, U2, or whomever decide to release a "Beatles Anthology" type of product that has some of this bootleg material on it, I'll be the first one to buy it because it's guaranteed to sound better than the bootleg versions. If anyone IS selling the new Journey or new Van Halen album on E-Bay, then yes they WOULD be stealing, because they are making money off of someone elses work.

It comes down to this.. Since the invention of MP3's (and especially since Napster) I haven't bought one bootleg CD. I DO continue to buy the commercially released CD's, although there haven't been many worth buying lately. Do I feel guilty that the bootleggers are losing money? Not in the least. Do I support free trading of non-commercial music files. Damn right I do!

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