"Both are reproductions of copyrighted material using your own personal equipment and expertise."

When an artist does an album for a record label, it is more than just the artists equipment and expertise that goes into the record. The studio has paid good money to get an unreproducible sound out of expensive studio equipment, producers, sound engineers, etc. When you buy the right to enjoy this recording put together by all of these people who have invested themselves into making this record, you are buying the fruits of their labor. When you freely distribute this unreproducible recording without paying for it, you are taking money away from all that these people that have worked so hard.

Its true that mostly you are hurting the record company directly, but this will eventually hurt the artist and others involved; if you can't see that you are short sighted. If albums stop selling, studios stop getting used and soon go out of business. Producers stop being in demand and can no longer bring their expertise to help musicians refine their sound.

You can say all day that playing on your guitar is a reproduction of a recording, but unless you have the right effects, a personal coach telling you how to play the song perfectly, someone with equipment and expertise to mix your sound perfectly, you cannot reproduce what you are listening to. Even if you could, you would be standing on the shoulders of the producer and writer who arranged and wrote the music in the first place.

Your opinion is yours, and I am glad we live in a country that allows you to speak freely. That having been said, I am glad that same country also values the intellectual work of musicians, programmers, etc. You see, otherwise there wouldn't be professional musicians, professional programmers, or professional anything having to do with creating value by thinking. You can say that this value is artificial, but existents none the less (which a good thing). There are other countries where intellect is not valued and they do not have the things we do.

I am a musician who is working on an album (privately funded) and when I am finished I will probably release mp3's available for free download because music is a labor of love for me. This, however, is my right to determine as the person funding the CD. If I decided to charge for the music (which I will do at local shows and for people that just want to support me), that is easily justifiable because of the time and effort I put in. It is sad that you would think so little of my efforts that you would say that all of my hard work and time I spent creating my album is worthless (which is exactly what you say by acquiring it and distributing it without paying for it if you don't have the funder's permission) because you could reproduce it in some way.

I respect those who have talents I do not posses and place great value their work. I appreciate the talent it takes to paint a picture, to act in a movie, or design a building. No matter how good photography gets, I would never walk into a museum (or poster store for that matter) and start taking pictures of someone else’s creation without paying for it, even if I could reproduce it electronically in a way that you couldn't tell the difference from the original.

I wish you could see how disrespectful your attitude is toward those who create music and how much you belittle their talent. I know I can't change your mind, but I just had to vent a little. I think I've gotten it all off my chest .

-Jeff