It is obviously the responsibility of the marketer/vendor of the music to ensure the remuneration of the artist as whatever the format of it's distribution, cd, lp, cassette or MP3.

Perhaps though it is realistic these days for the artist to accept that for every MP3 or CD sold, there will be two or three copies made.

The artist could in their own minds reconcile theft/sharing with the thought that they are not selling to individuals but to small groups of individuals eg groups of friends.

When I was a lad, my friends and I couldn't all aford to by lp's. So generally, one of us would have an original and the others would have recordings on cassette tapes.

We could share the burden of cost.

It was just as illegal as filesharing, but I think morally defensible.

All you artists who, rightly, have a dim view of piracy, can you honestly say that you never made or possessed cassette recordings of your favourite albums?

I don't begrudge those kind of pennies. In fact I would feel flattered if I felt a group of young 'uns were discussing and sharing my work.

Whaddaya say peace (hope all is well - this is but a fleeting visit.)