Everyone has an opinion about the matter of file-sharing music but not everyone understands the nature of the industry. Do you think that (often greedy) record executives really care about the economic welfare of the people they purport to represent? Whole industries are created around the wealth of a single artist /band and they all profit to an extent from it. In fact, it's the artist who profits the least from this industry, getting only a small percentage of the actual retail cost of a record. Thus, it's these people who cry the loudest when they think their profits are threatened, and not because they think the artists livelihood is threatened. Thus is is the nature of people, thus is the nature of greed. Copyright protection is NOT an answer. It never has been. Greedy record companies/executives have sought to stop people copying music for as long as I have been collecting it (30 years +). I remember the propaganda in the 70's where the skull and cross bones was used on LP's to denote that home taping was killing music. A similar argument is being used to scaremonger about sharing MP3's. Different medium, same old argument. It never did kill it by the way, but exposed it to a wider audience. Record sales actually went up with the advent of audio tape (at least here in the UK they did). I bought a very expensive CD player some years ago with copyright protection built in. Works so well that it refuses to play quite a lot of pre-recorded CD's. What a con, what a rip-off. There is something insidious in the way software companies install software onto our computers without knowledge or consent. Some here may find that just fine. I, for one, find it disturbing. We need to speak out and expose these people/companies. Awareness is the key, people need to know what is going on so they can do something about it. Someone on this thread hit the nail on the head. _Publicity/exposure is the key._ Music sharing is a wonderful thing, it exposes people to music they would never heard of. An MP3 is an entirely different medium than a wonderfully packaged original CD/LP. People will always buy music if they like what they heard. But they had to hear it in the first place. Even people who make music who influenced by the music they've heard; perhaps they should pay royalties? *snicker* This whole argument is irrelevant and always has been. It's human nature to try before you buy and stupid to fight this natural tendency. Copyright protection is the mentality of those that fear they have something to lose. Some enlightened bands are giving away MP3's of their music, recognizing that exposure is the key. Simple maths; the more people that hear your music, the more people more likely to buy it. Good music will always sell! It's such basic common sense that has got trodden over in the greed/copyright debate. One day, in a more enlightened age, when greed is not the predominant factor, the whole argument of copyright issue will be dead. But until then, those that fear they have most to lose (not even those that made the music) will shout the loudest to protect what others made that enabled them to get rich. Go and figure. Jabberwoc