Would you rather pay at least fifteen dollars or nothing for a cd? The obvious answer is free. There are many websites on the Internet where you can download free music, pictures, movies and much more from someone else's computer. On of the most well known places for file sharing is Napster. Users at home use Napster by installing their software on their computer, searching for files they wish to download from someone else's computer just like theirs, and sharing the file with others just like everyone else does. Legal issues have developed through time and are currently in trial. I believe being able to download an unlimited amount of files absolutely free is ethical towards the artists of these files.
Napster does follow all copyright laws, which makes it legal. In one legal response towards the record companies trying to shut them down, a spokesperson for Napster stated, "Finding and downloading copyrighted songs for free is protected by the law as long as Napster members are not making any money themselves off of the recordings"(Borland).
Is Napster hurting the "unknown" artists? People who don't have the public connections and money for promotions like big stars, are now able to let their material be heard and seen by a large number of people. "If artists, especially musicians, are forced to rely more on the quality and originality of their music instead of just having good promoting connections or friends in the business, then the quality of music would drastically go up" (Smith).
Musicians, who have already walked down the red carpet in Hollywood, are scared of what this might do to their income. Accomplished musicians have always made a new cd and sold it for a profit, the almighty dollar bill. What the artists don't realize is that technological advancements are going to happen. The world is becoming completely digital. "In the near future, members of society will be capable of storing thousands of songs onto a single optical disk" (Smith).
