Homeless, I'm with you on that one.

I admit! I'm guilty!

I've downloaded material that's probably copyright protected!

However: Because of that material, I've searched out and bought CDs from several bands that I'd never heard of.

~or~

I've downloaded copyright protected material that I already own in other formats, that I wanted to be able to listen to while I work.

~or~

I've downloaded copyright protected material that while it's still protected, is only available from rarities vendors, used stores, or through informal exchange networks (read: pirates) of out of print releases.

I'm not going to put on the rose-tinted glasses and say that every Napster user did the same as I. Pirates are pirates, and hackers are hackers. All the sabre rattling in the world will NOT stop them (or even slow them down). 

I'd hope that RIAA and the rest of the corp machinations realize the futility of that front. As to the other 19 million users who don't consider themselves pirates or hackers, one would hope that the 'industry' will realize that this is a 'market', and ignoring it will just cause MORE napsters, gnutellas, Mapsters, and god knows how many other clones to pop up and exploit it.

*Sigh*... probably do more on this later, after I'm off work and can organize my thoughts.

M