Software companies went through the same thing in the eighties, when kids were cracking protection codes and copying games and software. Every time a disc was copied, the companies whined that they just lost whatever the retail price of the game/program was. But that’s not necessarily true. As a kid, I didn’t own a computer. I used them at school. I couldn’t afford a computer, or the software. I probably copied a couple thousand dollars worth of discs. But how could the companies claim they lost a couple thousand dollars, when I didn’t have that money to begin with, and I wouldn’t have bought them in the first place?
Skip ahead to now. There’s certain albums I know I don’t want to buy, but I’ll copy them. It’s the same thing, it’s not as if I would have bought it in the first place. But occasionally, something might grow on me, and I’ll buy an original. Or I’ll burn mixes for friends, and they get turned on to a band and they’ll go out and buy some CDs. It’s not all black and white.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read that album sales were at an all-time high last year, and growing. As it is, after paying for over 3,000 overpriced CDs in the last 12 years, I don’t really feel guilty about making CDRs.
For a while people seemed to be enlightened to how much great music was out there, during the Napster heyday. Now people are back to whining about the sorry state of music.
There are alternatives, however. While neither is quite as user friendly and complete as Napster at its peak, together I can get most of what I’m looking for — Audiogalaxy and Morpheus. Check ’em out.
April 2, 2026
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1986
February 27, 2026
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1976
January 30, 2026
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1966
