I'll posit another "grey area":

Suppose I have an old LP, say by Badfinger? I paid for it years ago and it's worn. Or my turntable's buggered or for whatever reason, I just want oner track off this album on CD. If I just want "Come and Get It" on CD, I'm certainly not going out to buy a whole CD at the ridiculously inflated price they want. Now I could set up the computer to record it from my old LP, then spend time with CoolEdit and fix up the track as best I can. Or I could just fire up WinMX and download a good quality .MP3 from someone who wants to share.

Guess which one I'll do first?

Am I hurting Badfinger? Not likely since I wouldn't have bought the CD anyway for just one song. Besides, those guys never made anything from their recordings. Two of them committed suicide and the other two aren't on speaking terms anymore, due largely to their being legendarily screwed over by the record companies that would be the only ones to profit from the money exchange.

But the point I'm making is: I get something for nothing (except my time and the cost of my internet connection/computer/time/CD-R), and the musician (if the music company is honourable) misses out on a cent or two that they wouldn't have gotten anyway because I wouldn't have made the purchase.

But I did pay for the LP way back when, and only wanted the one song off it. Is it stealing? Technically, I guess. But it ain't gonna keep me up nights.

Those who don't like it can take some comfort in the fact that they are now saying our precious CD-Rs will only last about 5 years anyway. ;) Oh well.