In the context of this discussion, the Celtic Music situation is a bit of a red herring (and it's been discussed at immense length). Much as we all dislike the situation, Celtic Music owns the copyright and is entitled to do what it wants. Personally, I find Mr Bulmer's behaviour in refusing to re-release these albums bizarre - this is not a record company with some long-forgotten items in its vaults, these are the gems of his collection for which there is undoubtedly a demand. But they're his property, and it's his choice.

In these circumstances I suspect many of us would see little wrong MORALLY in making these albums available for download. But it would still be wrong legally, and you could expect Celtic Music to take swift action. Besides, putting them on the particular website under discussion for free download would still not help Nic and the other artists.

There's no getting away from the fact that copying has gone on for decades. The difference now is the scale. Whilst legally there is no difference between putting an album on the internet and copying it for a mate, the practical difference is immense. Taking one or two copies for friends has negligible impact compared with making it available for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to download.