Latest study - file sharing has no impact on CD sales

[Prof]

Originally Posted by danlisa

I personally always try before I buy. I'm not going to buy an album on the basis of one decent track which is currently getting airplay. I rarely keep a shared/downloaded album if I don't like it.

If it is not good enough to buy, it's not good enough to be on my HDD.

FYI the same goes for games/software & books.

The point you raise there is an interesting one. I don't think it justifies the illegal downloading of music but there is something to be said for music companies providing some form of try-before-you-buy system. For example, the big music shops in my city have points where you can scan the barcode of the CD and listen to the tracks in the shop. One of the independent music shops will let you return a CD if you don't like it.

I should probably confess at this point that I was heavily into music downloading during my first two or three years at university. I wasn't really into music when I arrived but the exposure to what was available online meant that I discovered new music I didn't know existed before. In my case, if it hadn't been for filesharing, I would probably still have just the 5 or 6 CDs I had while I was at college. Eventually I reasoned that even though filesharing increased my music buying, it wasn't justification enough for breaking the law, so I deleted it all.

Originally Posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki II

Laws are not a priori good.

No, but they are laws, good or bad.

Law, at the best of times, are mere words on paper that attempt to crudely analog the contemporary ethics of society. At worst, they are words on paper put in by the rich and powerful to suit their own needs. Current copyright laws with their near-infinite expiry dates, IMO, are really more about the latter.

As a follower of utilitarian ethics, I believe copyright laws should be the absolute minimum that will satisfy the utilitatarian purpose of securing a reasonable (not blatant) profit for creators so they will be motivated to create for the greater good of society, and it should be balanced against the free flow of information.

Why does it matter why laws are in existence? Unless they require the abandoning of fundamental moral principles there is no reason for them to be disobeyed. I can understand your beliefs about copyright laws but that's just not the way things work at the moment. I don't really see any justification for breaking laws just because you disagree with them.