I want to add, the songs were for my personal use in my MP3 player. Plus, the site I download from, you basically have to download the file first, THEN check it out to see if you like it...Many of them I simply delete.

True the amount of the fine is outrageous but she broke the law. People know it is illegal to share copyrighted material and if they choose to do this and they get caught then they have no one but themselves to blame. There are multiple places online like Rhapsody where you pay a small fee and you can listen to all the music you want without having to worry about getting sued. And sites like last.fm you can listen to music for free.

The way i see it, the only persons responsible to pay any money for copyright infringment would be the fileshare sites/hosts. Honestly, its not really any different than all those ppl in the 80s/ early 90s that dubbed songs to cassette and made mix tapes for other ppl. Did any of those folks get sued for giving out copyrighted music for free? NO!! Besides the fact that no one person deserves 25million dollars a year for any reason. There is much better things that money could be doing than sitting in the banks of the already rich. I mean really, so ppl downloaded your music for free, now, heaven forbid, you can't afford that 12th car that you only drive once a year anyway. Celebs need to get over themselves already. half the homeless population of New York State could live comfortably in your homes and eat for 10 years or more off all the money they spend on cloths in a single year! Its a joke.

If the facilitation of sharing is made possible by the technology we have, then how is it wrong or illegal?
It's just another way to stick it to people where it hurts.

In the past, when people recorded tapes, there was virtually no way of tracking people down other than if they were reselling the recordings on a large scale.

My opinion on this matter, unless there is rampant piracy, and reselling of said copy written materials, then the individual user should not bear the burden of blame.
They have little other way to prove their point, than to kill the average Joe.

Gah! I just downloaded a LOT of songs from limewire right before they were shut down...
But I don't understand how it's illegal if people bought and paid for the cds, then uploaded them to share. I don't know much about the legalities about that stuff. I think it's a little ridiculous to have to pay 1,000's per song when they don't cost that much to begin with. Where do they pull these figures from?? I think that should fall under (cruel)/UNUSUAL punishment. It's just crazy.

When you buy a CD, you buy a license to use the music for yourself. When you copy the songs and upload them you allow many others to download them and thus break the terms of your license/agreement when buying the CD.

I am so with stealing music.. I dont see why people should buy new artists music anyway.. its not even worth the cd its printed on.. Most of the stuff that comes out is plain out garbage..

But real artists let you download thier music for free.. so no big deal.. screw big market music you guys can keep it.

Oh and did you know.. Downloading music helps terrorist.. I learned that from a movie I jacked off the internet..

well if i have bought cd's and had them stolen from my car i'm sure as hell not going to buy the cd twice so i'll download it if i happen to get done well i'll offer them 10 cents a week as they can't get blood out of a stone hahahaha.

Imo, piracy is wrong. Downloading isn't piracy tho. They should go after the people who illegally upload / share copyright material. They are the ones that are breaking the law. If you find a CD or tape on the street then it's finders keepers, right!? It's not stealing. Yes I know that won't wash in court so ppl be careful what you download.