The record industry blames the steep decrease in their CD sales on online piracy, which is unauthorized Internet downloads. The industry feels the drops are primarily due to the new options provided by the Internet. They argue that services like Napster, which allows unrestricted access to a huge library of free music, would ultimately cut into their record sales. However, statistics have not yet backed up their claim. Sales of CDs have consistently grown, although not spectacularly, since the popularity of file-swapping services began exploding online. On the other hand, they claim that actual sale figures don’t matter; it’s the fact that Napster and similar services should not control the work of copyright owners and artists.

I myself do use a file-sharing program on my home computer. I don’t use it regularly or consider myself a heavy down loader though. I download songs to see if I would want to buy an album or not. I think my use of the program has influenced me to buy more CDs than not to buy them. The program has also helped me come across music I had never heard before and ended up enjoying. I own quite a few CDs now that I never would have even known about had it not been for accidentally coming across it during a search on my downloading program. I’m sure I’m not the only music lover that has stumbled across something they had never heard before and ended up liking it. I view the downloading of music as having a positive effect on the music industry. They should use the influence of file sharing to help promote and increase their sales.

ed that the popularity of recorded music has not fallen, but the decreases reflect the fact that the commercial value of music is being widely devalued by mass copying and piracy. As proof, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said a survey conducted in three of its top markets—the United States, Japan and Germany—showed a direct comparison between CD burning and file swapping and a smaller appetite for mu

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