Amaryll hit the nail on the head. The record companies suck. I'd rather download the album from the net and send the artist a dollar rather than driving to the record store and spending an hour's labor for the cd, only a few pennies of which the artist will ever see from the record companies. I think the biggest reason for music piracy is the fact that cd's cost too damn much.

>>I remember when CD's were first introduced the record companies said that as
soon as cd's became mainstream the prices would drop, because it is a LOT
cheaper to manufacture cd's than the old LP's and cassettes. This never
happened. The prices stayed the same, and even increased in some cases, with
the record companies pocketing all that extra revenue. I have no sympathy at
all for the record companies.
And now, with two of the world's largest record companies, BMG and SONY ,
about to merge, ( that is, if the senate antitrust committee approves the
merger) we will be all the more at their mercy.<<