MP3s, file sharing, and Advensits

[Guest]

I used Napter to get some good music of the net' when it first came out, and I recnetly pulled a few old favorites of mine off of BearShare. I don't have a massive MP3 collection, and I digitized a lot of the music I already own on CDs.

Now, "officially" it is illegal to share music over the internet. However, I have some trouble seeing the logic in it. Now, I do beleive that pirating software is, in fact, stealing. However, I don't think that music is.

Does anyone here have views or opinions on whether music sharing via the internet is a sin (stealing) or not? After thinking about it, there even seems to be a lot of underlying hypocricy behind these laws and ideas. All input would be appreciated. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

Thanks!

-S O L A R I S

[Gregory Matthews]

The Christian is required to obey the law that does not conflict with what God says, whether or not one agrees with it.

Music is an intelectual production of someone. The law gives the one who produced it the right to profit from it, and to regulate how it is used. One who requires a payment for the use of one's production is wronged by one who uses it without such payment. IF someone says that you must pay me if you want to posess a copy of my work, they you must either not posess that copy, or you must pay for it.

[Paul Beach]

Jeremiah 22:13 - "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages;

1 Timothy 5:18 - The laborer is worthy of his wages.

James 5:4 - Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

If a person does work, they deserve to be paid. If you own the original on tape or something and want to download it so you can make a CD, that's probably okay, but you must have owned the original work. I can't see where Scripture would allow otherwise.

There is no difference between music and software. Both are original works of authorship fixed in an electronic medium.

PB

<small>[ May 23, 2002, 03:06 AM: Message edited by: Paul Beach ]</small>

[Doug Meister]

I think its wrong to download music without paying for it. But before Napster folded, I d/l quite a few Jazz songs. In a way I didnt steal them because I would never have bought any of these. So by d/l them I didnt deprive anyone of their royalty. But a larger view is that prolly many people did benefit and would have bought that music and so they stole it by d/l it. But in my case I dont listen to these songs very much and my hearing is falling off on the high end, so I got less. <img src="http://www.8wire.com/ubb/graemlins/err.gif" alt=" - " />

[:blue]--Ðøug <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> ™</font>

[Doug Meister]

<I think its wrong to download music without paying for it. But before Napster folded, I d/l quite a few Jazz songs. In a way I didnt steal them because I would never have bought any of these. So by d/l them I didnt deprive anyone of their royalty. But a larger view is that prolly many people did benefit and would have bought that music and so they stole it by d/l it. But in my case I dont listen to these songs very much and my hearing is falling off on the high end, so I got less.>

duplicate post

<small>[ May 23, 2002, 06:37 AM: Message edited by: Doug Meis ]</small>