When someone can download a song for free he or she is less likely to go out and buy that CD. .
There are many social benefits that come from downloading music if you are a Napster lover. If you have the right equipment at home then you can get music you like in a matter of 5-10 minutes, without spending a dime. Some of the right equipment would include; a computer and an internet connection (high speed preferably). If you plan on downloading a lot of music you may need to a big hard drive on the computer because MP3's take up a lot of storage space on the hard drive. This actually helps the computer companies (i.e. Compaq, Gateway, Hewlett Packard, Dell and many more) because people have to buy the equipment to be able to download.
What about the bands that are not very big in the music industry and they want to get there name and music out for the public too listen to. Napster and MP3's can help out in that aspect a lot. Before Napster came about local bands that don't have thousands of dollars to produce a CD to sell in stores, would just go as far playing in a local night club for years until (if and when) a recording studio would recognize them to invest money into there music. Now, with Napster, local bands can put there music online and the whole world can listen too it, download it, and spread the good music too there friends.
What about the companies that create the CD-R's (Recordable CD's). If they ban the downloading of MP3's then the companies like Memorex, Samsung, Ritek, Sony, Maxell, and many more will lose a lot of money, just like the recording industry is. Yeah sure, they will still sell some to the ones who use CD-R's for data use; but the majority of the CD-R's bought are being used for music. Many of these same companies also make the CD-RW (CD burners). There sales will also go down from not selling the burners. .
The fact is that there are many companies that have invested a lot of money into the downloading of MP3's.