I should post a poll "Why do so few respond to polls". But, thanks to those (so far) who have.

It looks like (so far) it's mostly an issue of quality, with some concerns about not distributing music too freely.

I think both these issues can be easily addressed.

First, FLAC quality is the same as CD quality. There is not info lost. If you convert it back to a lossless format (WAV, AIFF) and burn to a CD, the tracks for all intents and purposes are identical to the original CD--assuming that they were converted to FLAC from a lossless format or ripped to FLAC from CD. Both Slosh and myself have posted lossless comps. I also think FLAC is the most accessible free format for which software can be readily downloaded on both PC and Mac platforms. From FLAC you can convert to what ever you want for what ever device you wish to listen with. The only downside of FLAC, or any lossless compression is that it only achieves about 2 fold reduction in size from the original. But, if bandwidth is not a problem this is not a problem.

With regards to sharing... I don't really like to make music available for abusive download either, but I do think that sharing comps within a smallish community is not abusive. Three easy solutions. I like #2 best.

1) Creat downloadable .zip files which require a password to unzip. PM poster for pass.

2) Require a PM to obtain the download link

The file sharing site that Slosh (and I) used deletes the files after 7 days of innactivity. I think this is reasonable as well for controlling downloads and serving intent.

I'll wait for more responses to the poll...