I've been using Napster since the beginning in Sept., 1999 and I've never been convinced of any "illegal" activity. It's the trading from one person to another: just like when I let one of my boys record off my stereo or when you record on a VCR--the only difference being that this on a computer. Nevertheless, the artists had no control over those afformentioned trading medias, but they aren't considered illegal.

It seems to me that it's the rapid progression of the internet that has the "artists" scared more than anything: the assume that if a kid can go on a computer and steal a person's credit card number and unleash all of these damn e-mail viruses, then what is to be said for thier money ? Technophobia has run rampant and it's only natural for people in all industries to be scared.

It makes no sense to call it "boot-legging" when they aren't making money off exchange (although the recent partnership with BMG will inevitably change that.

I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY AGREE that an artist should be compensated for their work BUT, there are a lot of artists out there who would kill just to have their work seen/heard/experienced, let alone be paid for it. Plus, there is THE INDISPUTABLE FACT (which you can find in any news source from CNN to your local paper) that there has been No Significant Change in music sales since the creation of Napster or its countless clones. Both of the two afformentioned facts are why artists like Chuck D, Limp Bizkit and Offspring are embracing Napster: it has exposed their music to more people and expanded thier fanbase significantly without hurting thier record sales--increasing said sales, in fact.

By the way, doesn't THE RADIO give away music for free on a 24/7 basis ?

It's not about being any "Robin Hood", it's merely about finding people with whom you share musical tastes and interacting with them.....sorta like O.K.P itself. But like I said, this is just one man's opinon.

Y'all do read my quotes, right?
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Well, y'all, it's like my gran-daddy used to say:

"If you don't start no jivin' an' shuckin', I won't have t' start no shootin' an' cuttin' !"
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"Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power."

--first stanza of the 33rd poem in the Tao te Ching