[quote name='panzerfaust']It's not even that big of a deal, both sides just blow it up into this huge moral issue. Being a musical artist has always been an all or nothing endeavor. Are people really clamoring for an age where up and coming bands check their MP3 sales income every day to see how they are doing? I know small bands that would be absoultely flattered if you had their song on your mp3 player -- whether you payed a fee or not. Most struggling bands give their shit out for free anyways.
Does that mean pirating is okay? No. But asking people pay a dollar for every song on their iPod is absolutely insane. How good do people think their music is these days? The pop artists on the radio often have their shit going at $1.49 -- lol? They make more money in one concert then most people do in a year.
Does that justify pirating? No. No one is looking for justification, people just want to listen to music. Some people pay (quite a lot people actually), and a lot more people pirate. And the majority of the people who pay heard stuff they liked originally from free sources. When people stop making music, I'll believe it's a huge problem.
And all this high and mighty talk coming from CAG? Do you have any idea how shameless the used game market is?
On topic: Thanks for reminding us of the deal[/QUOTE]
Physical copy, we're talking about digital here.
Though, the rest of your post is right, IMO.
Only problem is, people don't know if the artist they're downloading is okay if you got it for free. They can't say it's okay, because then, why pay for it at all?
And ya, $1 is too high for a song, but I blame the RIAA.

the RIAA