Yes, Sandy, I understand your point completely. In fact, I am in complete sympathy with the scenario you describe. There is not question in my mind that publishing and record companies have ripped off writers for years. And would still like to do so. You ready for this? I believe that file sharing specifically, and the internet in general, finally gives the artists, authors, and independents a chance to control their own destinies. One can get out there and present their own works to a broad audience. But there are several issues to be resolved. The first is the one we are discussing. How does one allow a preview without giving away the baby. In this regard, the large companies are doing us a favor by going after the free filesharing services. This is something the independent artists would not be able to do because of a lack of a central structure. I believe that we need software to allow the preview of, but not the download of, the music we create. Then a system to allow a download by and pay for, by track. I realize that we have services that are similar to this, but it seems to me that one should be able to have this on their own website. The next piece is up to the individual, and that is to learn how to market over the Internet.

File sharing is an interesting concept that can be very good, or very bad. If we don't get control of it, we will simply swap one set of bandits for another. Instead of the large corporations ripping us off, it will be Joe Average. I don't like getting ripped of by either side.

By the way, Jim, I recognized the debater in you. It never felt like an argument, just a good discussion on a tough issue.

All the best,

Mick