As a recording musician I expected to get money for my recordings, just as everyone else in the chain of business did in making my music available to the end-user. (And just as a grocer who makes food available to his customers expects you to leave something in the till on your way out of the store.)
You draw incorrect paralells between the physical medium and the data encoded on it.
I have never had any problem with someone recording a copy of my music from a purchased copy if they are a music lover with a thin pocket, or can't readily purchase it. If someone with a $2000.00 stereo wants to enjoy the fruits of my labor without contributing any money to my health and welfare, then I consider them to be just another thief.
Theivery doesn`t come into it, you simply have no property rights over your speech. I can "say" whatever I want, that includes "saying" the same set of bits on a CD made by you, onto a tape or minidisc. Because MD and DAT are not yet common, and as Tim pointed out most consumer DAT boxes don`t copy original CDs or DATs, copying is less widespread than it could be; if I like an Artists work or a particular album I will buy it on CD because the quality is higher than copying to tape, and I don`t have a DAT machine (even if I did I wouldn`t find it useful as my main stereo is in my car). I don`t just say this; I do it, I have a lot of copied music which I listen to occasionally but all my favourite stuff (my large-ish collection of jazz and blues) is on original CD.
Buy it, if at all possible. If you download a copy on the net and can't afford $99.00, then send them $10.00, or $20.00, etc. If you can't afford to send them a nickle, then do what you can to promote their product. Provide pointers to their business, tell people about their products, etc.
I agree with this sentiment entirely: Copyright is not something to be enforced or condoned but if you do use someones work think about at least giving credit or making a donation on a voluntary basis, for one thing it helps stimulate the market.
Technology may well enable us to take the product and give nothing in return to those who made it available, but doing so will not further our own beliefs and aims to any extent.
Again, this is the right way to think of "intellectual property", not as real tangiable property which can, or even should be protected, but as a bond of trust between provider and end user, if you rip off a copy of my s/w and decide you like it, why not buy a copy? The same is true of music, source code, hard-copy books etc... Datacomms Technologies data security Paul Bradley, Paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk Paul@crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul@cryptography.uk.eu.org Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/ Email for PGP public key, ID: FC76DA85 "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"