I consider myself a music lover. So, when I hear new songs that I cannot get out of my head, the first thing I want to do is add them to my collection. Logic would take me to the local Best Buy or Circuit City. I walk through the doors and I am like a kid in a candy store. But there is a harsh reality that interrupts this comparison.
I can afford candy. As most college students, I cannot afford a CD. This is what drives us to download files. One CD is one-quarter of my bi-weekly grocery bill or just enough to get me at least two Cosmopolitans at any bar that knows how to do them justice. And I'm going to waste this money on one song that I will tire of after a week of belting it out in my car? Not anymore.
When I came to Ball State three years ago, I realized the power of Ethernet in residence halls. A child of a family loyal to dial-up, this faster Internet connection led me down an immoral path. I became a file-sharer, hitting up the network neighborhood to copy whatever I could get my hands on. So, naturally, this summer when I found out Loyola University of Chicago was served with a subpoena to turn over any excessive file-sharers, I got scared. I had fears that one day while I was downloading the Was (Not Was) hit "Everybody Walks the Dinosaur," the "Feds" were going to come storming into my apartment and take me downtown before I could open the door or get on the floor.
They have a right to. It's stealing.
Downloading one song is equivalent to snatching a Slim Jim from the Village Pantry. Like shop lifters, file sharers should be prosecuted. But, executing this is incredibly difficult. It is next to impossible to stop your resident Dave Matthews fan from ganking every bootleg copy of "The Last Stop" they can. There are too many people with too many albums and computers that could just tap right in and copy the file. In reality, there is no way to keep someone from copying their music and offering it to others. People will find other ways to get music, even if they are illegal.
Downloaders, keep in mind that if a university is served with a subpoena, officials may turn you in. Not only does mass file-sharing put you in jeopardy, it puts the owner of your bandwidth in jeopardy too. Maybe that is something that should be considered the next time you copy an entire live performance on your parent's computer. How would you like to have your parent's home repossessed after they lose the lawsuit?
So the next time you feel like grabbing a few new songs off the Internet, consider who is affected. If the music is really worth it, go buy it. If you get caught, the price after litigation could be 10,000 times more expensive than buying the CD.
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