Yes, I agree it's a minefield of conflicting thoughts and feelings.

I admit to not being much of a downloader myself, I have enough to listen to. Sometimes I see people put up stuff for whatever reason of themselves and I think it's all to aggrandise themselves, the old 'look at me how great I am for making this available to you'. I also see people put up stuff for the genuine love of it. And a few shades in between too.

Fact remains that music doesn't exist if it doesn't get heard. And I like to think there's more to playing music than a bit of money changing hands.