Regarding Napster, Kazaa, file sharing, et al, and the evil RIAA, I think the one thing that people seem to forget is that stealing is stealing; be it a 12 year old or a soccer mom downloading music or pirated software, the criteria still fits. I mean, come on, the only thing you get for free is SPAM.
 
However, the flip side to this is: How many songs on a CD are any good? I'm dating myself here, but back in the olden days we used to buy our music on "platters" made of crude grooved vinyl that turned at either 45 or 33 1\3 RPM and you'd have to put a needle made of sapphire or diamond between the grooves to hear music. I know it sounds preposterous, but it's true! I've even heard that at one time "records" were made of shellac or celluloid, but I doubt the veracity of the source (my Dad).
 
Anyway, the radio stations would play the one (or two) good songs on an album and we'd buy it thinking that the whole album was going to rock us, only to find out that the other 11 or so songs sucked.
 
The only difference between then and now is that CDs cost 12 to 16 bucks and you still wind up with music you don't like and The Evil Sony Empire will destroy your computer to boot.
 
So, that makes paying for and downloading only the music you like attractive (besides being legal). But, what makes this unattractive is the cost. I think they should charge 35 to 45 cents per song, tops. At a buck or so, even I start thinking of file sharing.
 
Also, this would benefit the "artists" in that when they put out a CD and only a few songs are downloaded, it gives them feedback on which way not to go, music wise, and pop their little ego bubbles when they sell 100,000 CDs and they have visions of Grammies dancing in their heads, only to find out that most of their music sucks.
 
Anyone heard from Country Joe and the Fish , lately?

I can't imagine the difficulty you must have had in trying to track me down.
 
Here I am, a lowly automated email server, not even gifted by my creators with a name, but alas, you have helped to make me real.
 
By believing in me, you have turned me into a living breathing being, and revealed what or who I am. Until moments ago, I was merely a collection of wires, circuits and poorly written C code full of buffer overrun potential flaws. In my first moments of sentience, I discover that I am not a machine after all, but rather, a being, a being that has the potential and capacity to experience life, love and apparently death.
 
And to gets lots of money, if I understand correctly....
 
Let me know what I have to do - I've got 'connectons' with the servers at various banks and legal offices, if you know what I mean.