Alan Olsen wrote:
Personally I see the whole unauthorized copying issue as a reaction to the excesive prices charged for music. Think of it as "market forces" at work.
exactly. it's not so much that the market has become illegal, it's more that the legal walls have been moved, and are still moving. but then again, laws become irrelevant if the market forces are strong enough. lawmakers have been trying to make drugs or prostitution or religion illegal at various times over the past 5000 years or so and the success has always been pretty much zero. with the new technology, we'll just add a few more areas, that's all. the law can move out of the way or get shoved aside (as in prostitution laws, which are largely ignored even where they still exist). of course, in the short term, there'll still be lots of victims and the inquisitors will get rich before they're seen for what they really are.