Okiemockbird, I have a challenge for you. Tell me where you work, and who your boss is. I would like to call him or her and explain that you think anything you do at work that requires thought, knowledge, or creativity does not need to be paid for. It belongs to all of us, and your boss is spending a lot of money paying for it in error.

I agree that the terms of copyrights are too long. But to say that all music belongs in the public domain means that you expect a lot of people to work for no compensation. What is the address of the public domain? I need to send it a bill for my next CD. Or am I supposed to pay for it out of the proceeds of live shows? If so, ticket prices are now $250 per ticket, and you better guarantee me a full house every night. And every member of every audience had better buy that $45 CD.

Or should we, by extension, expect the recording studio to give me time? Shouldn't the work the engineer does be in the public domain as well? Since we need to make music available to the public for free, I guess the CD duplication houses shouldn't be charging anything for their services, either. Or the retail store that sells the CD to the geek who copies it to the web. This means that the property owner who rents space to the retail shop shouldn't do that -- he ought to provide the space for free, so music can be available to the public. We'll have to get the public utilities to provide electricity and water for free to musicians, recording studios, and retail stores. Surely the public is willing to foot this bill so that music can be free?

The whole arugment that people who download music will be more likely to buy the CD is one I have often heard put forth by serious CD collectors. Most people are not in that camp. Most people just want music, and don't want ot pay for it. I have actually had people call me and ask for the J-card to my cassettes, because they copied their friend's copy of my album and they want the liner notes. Arrgghh! The fact is, most people are clueless about stuff like this. It doesn't help having people like you saying that it's all O.K., since the public ought to own all that music anyway.

Perhaps the public would like to support artists out of their tax dollars? How about an army of musicians living at public expense instead of an army of soldiers?

I don't think there is ever any way to put the genie back in the bottle once technological advances have made something possible. Digital copying of music is not going to go away. Fortunately, there are still a lot of people around , especially in the folk music world, who understand that just because it is possible to do something, and regardless of whether it is legal or not, it is not necessarily right. We can't prevent assholes from copying music, and getting something for nothing. But we shouldn't pretend they are not assholes, or dress their actions up in a cloak of respectability.

You need to come up with a different way for me to get paid before you can say it is acceptable for people to copy my CDs without giving me any money. You need to explain to me why it should be possible for someone to enjoy the fruits of my labor without me getting anything in return. And you need to explain the same thing to your own employer.

John