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Downloading Music


stagefairy

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I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm new and I did a search that didn't come up with anything, so here goes...

A friend and I were discussing music downloading and copying. In this age of high speed internet and CD burners, getting free music (stealing?) has never been easier. I live in Canada where the courts deem it legal to download music off of the internet for personal use. It's considered 'sharing'. But obviously everything that is legal is not moral (i.e. abortion). So, I have a few things I would like opinions on. Is downloading music off the internet wrong and considered stealinng if it is legal? Some musicians and artists encourage it, because it helps their bands and music gain popularity, others feel like it makes them lose money that would have been spent on their CDs. Personally, I am of the opinion that it musicians deserve to be paid for their work and that if you are downloading in lieu of buying CD's that's wrong. What about downloading to sample music you are unsure about, in order to know if you want to spend your money on a CD?

The other thing I am wondering about is making mixed CDs? I know making backup copies of CD's for personal use is okay, but that one shouldn't be distributing these 'backups' to all of their friends. What about song mixes though? If you have bought all the the CD's in the first place but want to make for instance, a mix of songs for your best friend of all the songs that are special to you both. Would copying those particular songs onto one CD and giving it to your friend be wrong? You have already paid for these songs by buying the CD and a mix of these choice songs is unavailable to buy. I am unsure about this.

Also, if downloading music [i]is[/i] wrong in every case, what about taping music off of the radio? Would this also be wrong? Or taping movies off of TV? I know I am getting extreme, but I am only trying to make a point and find where the line should be drawn without being too lax or too scrupulous.

I would love input about each of these angles of music copying/downloading/sharing. Thanks. :D

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If it is legal and they said it is okay (ie demo tracks or something they posted) it would be moral. But using something like Kazazza is legal in the US only if the files downloaded are downloaded from the people who own them (If I make a song and post it you can legaly download it). However, that is rarely the case. So I would say 99% of the time it is immoral and if you don't know just assume it isn't a file posted by the author.

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In Middle east I heard u just gotta wait 20 years and then u get the songs free. I wouldnt download music even if its on the radio cuz the radio pays to play the song.

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WCC_Catholic

i have i know that when it comes to people that i like i buy the cd but if it is just a song that i like i download it and i dont really see anthing wrong with it my friends and i have been burning cds for years b/c we rarely like all the songs that are on the cd ya know what i mean.

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DancesforLove

It's not wrong in my opinion as long as you don't like burn it then sell it. But come on, those artist who throw those fits, don't you think it's a little big headed I mean it's like 20 bucks for one cd and they are loaded you'd and it's been going on for YEARS and you don't see the musicians getting poorer so I think it's ridiculous.
And it's no different than taping something off the radio is it?!? I mean they don't get upset about that so thats just dumb.

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[quote]i have i know that when it comes to people that i like i buy the cd but if it is just a song that i like i download it and i dont really see anthing wrong with it my friends and i have been burning cds for years b/c we rarely like all the songs that are on the cd ya know what i mean.
[/quote]

I don't know... getting and listening to songs without paying for them raises questions... for instance, is it okay to deny a musician payment for his music because you only like one of his songs? so... If I only like one kind of chocolate in a box of chocolates, is it okay for me to take that one kind out of the box and leave the rest without paying for any? Perhaps that's a bad example, but do you see what I mean?

searching for the truth.

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[quote]It's not wrong in my opinion as long as you don't like burn it then sell it. But come on, those artist who throw those fits, don't you think it's a little big headed I mean it's like 20 bucks for one cd and they are loaded you'd and it's been going on for YEARS and you don't see the musicians getting poorer so I think it's ridiculous.
[/quote]

Should it matter whether they are rich or poor? If a struggling Christian artist who was supporting 10 kids was making a living from their music would it be more wrong to download their music and deprive them of payment for their music than downloading a rich artist's music? That's kind of a double standard.

still searching for the truth.

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[quote]In Middle east I heard u just gotta wait 20 years and then u get the songs free. I wouldnt download music even if its on the radio cuz the radio pays to play the song.[/quote]

That's really interesting. I wonder that about music sometimes. Like, old hymns and stuff. Actors don't pay royalties to anyone when they perform Shakespeare, because it is so old... so what about older music? Would it be okay to take that without paying?

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Theologian in Training

[quote name='stagefairy' date='Aug 7 2004, 06:56 PM'] I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm new and I did a search that didn't come up with anything, so here goes...

A friend and I were discussing music downloading and copying. In this age of high speed internet and CD burners, getting free music (stealing?) has never been easier. I live in Canada where the courts deem it legal to download music off of the internet for personal use. It's considered 'sharing'. But obviously everything that is legal is not moral (i.e. abortion). So, I have a few things I would like opinions on. Is downloading music off the internet wrong and considered stealinng if it is legal? Some musicians and artists encourage it, because it helps their bands and music gain popularity, others feel like it makes them lose money that would have been spent on their CDs. Personally, I am of the opinion that it musicians deserve to be paid for their work and that if you are downloading in lieu of buying CD's that's wrong. What about downloading to sample music you are unsure about, in order to know if you want to spend your money on a CD?

The other thing I am wondering about is making mixed CDs? I know making backup copies of CD's for personal use is okay, but that one shouldn't be distributing these 'backups' to all of their friends. What about song mixes though? If you have bought all the the CD's in the first place but want to make for instance, a mix of songs for your best friend of all the songs that are special to you both. Would copying those particular songs onto one CD and giving it to your friend be wrong? You have already paid for these songs by buying the CD and a mix of these choice songs is unavailable to buy. I am unsure about this.

Also, if downloading music [i]is[/i] wrong in every case, what about taping music off of the radio? Would this also be wrong? Or taping movies off of TV? I know I am getting extreme, but I am only trying to make a point and find where the line should be drawn without being too lax or too scrupulous.

I would love input about each of these angles of music copying/downloading/sharing. Thanks. :D [/quote]
In order to better answer your question, I need a few questions of mine own answered.

When you ask whether or not dloading a song from the internet is legal. By what medium are you using the word "internet? Sites, Kazaa, mIRC?

As to your question on mix CD's. I would say if your friend does not own the CD's themselves then I would think it would be akin to giving one person your CD to burn only for them to give it back to you.

As to taping a movie or a song, I am unsure about that. You might check out [url="http://www.riaa.com/default.asp"]http://www.riaa.com/default.asp[/url] or [url="http://mpaa.org/home.htm"]http://mpaa.org/home.htm[/url]

I spoke with someone from the RIAA a while ago and he answered some of the questions I had. For example, taping a show on TV in order to watch it later...he said that was fine...as you said, the line does get hazy at times, and it is easy to be very scrupulous about these things.

Also, since you are new you might check out this thread [url="http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=17279"]http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=17279[/url] It is pretty recent, and I added a few links to previous threads dealing with this same issue.

Welcome

God Bless

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Ash Wednesday

I buy songs on iTunes that I've already listened to over the years and like and wanted to have on a cd, like mix-it-up cool.

I don't think downloading music for free without artist consent is morally sound. I don't see how, economically that will add up. If everyone downloaded music for free, how would the musician's services be paid for? When making a moral decision, it's not a bad idea to ask the question -- what if everyone did what I'm deciding whether or not to do?

The music industry should provide an audio format that enables listening but not keeping the songs. I can't stand the 30 second samples they give you. I want to hear the whole song. I don't understand why they don't do streaming real audio of the whole song. Some artists do that, and it makes me more likely to buy the album.

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Thy Geekdom Come

[quote name='Iacobus' date='Aug 7 2004, 09:57 PM'] If it is legal and they said it is okay (ie demo tracks or something they posted) it would be moral. But using something like Kazazza is legal in the US only if the files downloaded are downloaded from the people who own them (If I make a song and post it you can legaly download it). However, that is rarely the case. So I would say 99% of the time it is immoral and if you don't know just assume it isn't a file posted by the author. [/quote]
Jacob, the courts may make it legal and the musicians may say it's okay, but there are also others, like factory workers, advertisers, etc. who may need that money and are loosing it.

I'm sorry, unless all parties agree to make it free, I don't think it's moral.

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gopherball33

do u all kno about the McDonalds promotion where u get a free song from a pay-per-song place? i'm buying the big macs and downloading the songs (with the codes i received), but i find that this place makes it a hassle to burn the songs. so what i have been doing, since i have a license, is downloading them from edonkey, a file "sharing" place like kazaa, and then downloading them. i see no harm since im not stealing and i have the license.

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