[Mike Mahoney]

to answer the main question, Yes. I think music "piracy" in the form of p2p is harmless.
I finally broke down & jumped into a p2p site. I have found two things.
1) when I hear a tune I like & can ID the title or artist, I look it up on the p2p system. If I like it, I look for others by that artist. if they have more than one good song, I go buy the CD. My CD purchases have actually increased since jumping on this band wagon.
2) Sound Quality & incorrect labeling. many of the songs are labeled in the same way kids ask us for songs, they pick a line in the song & put that as the title, also, sometimes you have to search a bit to find a usable piece. its not worth it to me, its like taking the car to the mechanic, sure I can do it myself for free labor, but it takes up my time, & sometimes more time than I initially anticipated.

Now, that being said, I agree with those who say that good music right now is few & far between, that "clear channel" & others are strangling & suffocating the music industry, perhaps hurting it to an even greater degree than these p2p sites.

also, love 'em or hate 'em, Backstreet, N'Sync, Brittany, & Eminem are industry cash cows, three of which are doing almost nothing right now, & for a good little while, so the industry is simply waiting for the next big thing to come along.

& lastly, the economy is not helping the music industry, while people listen to more music when times are tough, they don't necesarily buy more music, untill the times get better for them, so these p2p sites offer an outlet, & most folks don't really want to go through all the hassle & expense of turning these mp3's into usable musical media, so as times get better, they will opt for the "convenience" of just buying a ready made CD. of course that may change with the tech becoming available to play raw mp3's, but then if the music industry wants to survive it'll have to adapt, & I for one would have no problem paying $1 per song, or something to that effect, when that type of thing becomes available.

oh well, thats just my take on it all [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]