It is not only the record companies, look at the movies. Everyone grumbles about paying $9 or more to go see a film, but piracy has cost dearly.

I know many people have the Robin Hood mentality and root for the pirates, but the reality is we all pay for it in the end. Sure the record companies were greedy, sure artists got screwed, but both sides seem to dig their feet in the sand and get ready for a battle instead of figuring out ways to help stop the bleeding.

I'm not sure why people think that a ride on the information highway is free - the Internet provides another way of commerce, and another way of piracy.

About the books, I was under the impression that if you perform a copyrighted arrangement, you pay for the rights to do so. If I borrowed the script for a Broadway play that has been published, would that give me the right to put it on stage at a local venue without paying for the rights to do so? I don't think so. What is the difference?