Quote:
I will not, repeat WILL NOT, continue to pay for something I neither want nor need: I have no use for 100s of mylar disks
Yes, but very little of that chart is about creating those mylar disks. Most of it is about getting the music from the musicians into your hands. If you can find ways to get that music without the record companies etc. being invovled then more power to you, but P2P isn't that. P2P (for the most part) wouldn't work if the record companies hadn't signed the artist, promoted the artist, gotten the artist playtime on the airwaves, and ultimately got the CDs in stores (even online) for someone to purchase. Sure there is music available via P2P that wasn't made popular and supported by the record compaines, but I'd say the vast majoirty of it is.

I do think record companies take advantage of artists and the whole thing is a big mess. They force music on the airwaves that is sub par and spend waaay to much time trying to catch people trying to steal music rather than working toward making music people want to buy. They treat people like me like criminals, shoving warnings in my face that say what I'm doing by using digital audio is criminal (even though it isn't). I'm frustrated by having to deal with drm if I want to buy music online and losing music because the machine I had it on (with drm licenses) had to be reformated. Having said all that, the record companies and the whole system have given us music we'd not have had if they haden't existed. I do have a problem taking music from them without compensating them for it. I just think a better system can be devised- and will be soon.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.