I for one am getting pretty tired of being called a thief. It's a completely wrong generalization to say all artists expect their work to be paid for. There are several that love having their music heard. I know I'm not everyone, but I for one download an album, and still go out and buy it. Having it on your computer is one thing. Having the actual CD and official merchandise is another.

Yes, it's fine and dandy that people do their best to make music. They can pour their "blood, sweat and tears" into anything. But, I ask; remember the days when we made mix tapes by recording songs from the radio? What is that? Same concept; "stealing". Did the RIAA ever go after the people who did that. No. They didn't. It's the same concept, and no law-suits ever happened.

The facts are that record sales are as high as they've ever been. Singers/artists are still hitting multi-platinum and diamond marks. Sure, people download songs. So? The RIAA should be focusing their attention on the several P2P programs available for download. They should have Microsoft and Mac and other OS's remove the support of music formats. They should crack down on providers of music-playing software which enables you to play mp3s and WMAs and the like.

Going to an individualistic level is time-consuming and costly. One individual person is not going to be able to pay $100-$1000 per copyrighted song.

They shut down Napster. They shut down Audiogalaxy. How is going after the individual going to change things?