Oh, don't worry about the record companies losing money. They soaked consumers for years and so we got some payback for a few years. Instead of making 500 million a year they made 100 million, big deal, I for one won't be shedding a tear. I don't suppose they felt they ripped me off the last time I bought 10 cds over the internet and only one was any good. And guys like my brother and I are making up for people who don't buy cds.
Then there's the question is it really stealing? Well lets see, radio companies have been broadcasting music over the airways for decades. How many people have listened to this music for free all these years and copied them on tape recorders. I never heard it being an issue 'til the internet. So why all of a sudden the concern? Because they are not making a dollar on it. Excuse me !! You've made millions of dollars already from the people who bought the music they heard for free over the radio for the last 50 years.
If the military broadcasts their codes for war over a radio. Is it stealing if the enemy intercepts this code copies it down on paper and tries to crack it so they know what there enemy's doing? No, you know the enemy is listening and expect him to try and decipher your code. So is it wrong that I intercept a radio signal broadcast for everyone to hear on my tuner and record it on a computer and then code it to mp3? No.
Then we have tv where we can watch baseball,football or hockey for free. All we have to do is endure the commercials that go along with it. Is anyone concerned that I may never go to a live sporting event in my life. No! they make there money by having miillions of people exposed to a product in the hope that enough people will by the commercial product or become fans of that sport and attend and support their local teams.
So having millions of people exposed to music they never would have heard before the internet now is somehow theft. No, this is advertising like tv has been doing only they didn't make money on it. But they've finally caught up, now you can go to the store and buy a mp3 card for $10 or $50 bucks and download a number of songs.
I think many unknown artists finally got some exposure that they otherwise never would have gotten if people had to pay to sample their music. So if anything its helped the music industry. If their sales are down maybe its because there are more entertainment choices now than there was 10 or 15 years ago. And it had nothing to do with people downloading music.