>Anyways, what do ya'll think about Napster?

I like it. I hope it remain free forever.

>I say downloading an MP3 and keeping it for more than 7 days on your computer is illegal. Plain and simple, there is NOTHING to justify stealing Copyrighted material.

IF the MP3 is Copyrighted, I agree with you. But again, what's the difference between Napster and radio stations? I can record the songs from the radio. Should we ban radios?

Not all artists are against Napster and some of them do create their own MP3 for distribution. Take an artist that is very talented but does not want to prostitute himself with comercial songs. How many record company will want to sign him? How many radio stations will play his tunes? I doubt very much that he will do a living in that situation. At least with Napster and the like, they have a chance of being heard and discovered by peoples that likes alternatives to radio-compatible songs (myself included.)

Another example: Smashing Pumpkins wanted to publish a last album before their breakup, a follow-up to Machina. Their record label wouldn't want to release it because Machina wasn't comercial enough for them and Machina II would have been even less comercial. SP then decided to please their fans and recorded 25 vinyl albums of Machina II, distributed them to close friends with instructions to record them in MP3 format and make them available to the public via Napster and the like. Without Napster, we couldn't have the chance of hearing these songs at all.

>I laugh so hard when I see some little punk AOL Hacker wanabe say that he deserves to download someone elses artistic property because they charge too much for it or already have enough money. How selfish is that? How counter prodcutive is that?

I could reverse the question. How selfish is an artist that distribute new songs in a "best of" album? What if I allready have all the previous albums? Do I need to throw up new $$$ to buy this album just for the new songs?

I am not trying to justify the "AOL Hacker wanabe" actions, but I can understand his POV. If the artists and, most of all, the record labels do show more respect for the music fans, then I would be more encline to be on their side.