I've never opend the Napster site — not for any lofty moral reasons, just because I'm only on-line at work — but when I retire in a few years I'll be buying the best computer I can afford and certainly a CD burner.

Pay for download? You betcha! I would LOVE to be able to make my own compilation CDs or ones of particular artists and not have half the music be songs I don't like.

I'm also with the camp that says Napster's freebies are pure theft if they're used as the sole source of music, but if they're used for sampling (as Matt and Clinton claim they do), I would remind the hardliners that you can go into a music store and listen to what's on offer. I don't see any enormous difference there.

And, adding to SeanM's thoughts, maybe of the major record companies would use, instead of fighting, services like Napster, they might discover interest in material that they have no current plans to release. It might prompt them to expand their offerings a little to cater to those of us with more esoteric tastes....

david