by Joe Buffaloe
Daily Lobo
I'll admit it, I'm jealous.
Last week John Bear got some hate mail for bashing Kenny Chesney's album, while I received none for supporting it. So I'd like to thank him for giving me this chance to anger my readers enough to maybe - just maybe - earn a letter of my own.
Who exactly will I be filling with rage this week? Anyone who downloads music. There are only five or six of them in Albuquerque, right?
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Sony recently installed a program on a number of its CDs to prevent online file sharing, and it undermined a number of computers' virus protection and anti-spyware features. Now supporters of music piracy are up in arms, calling for a halt to all programs that hinder their ability to steal music.
What's that? Steal? I thought it was "file sharing." It sounds so much more innocent, doesn't it? There's no commandment that says "Thou shalt not share files." Well, guess what - it's stealing. You can judge for yourself whether it's right or wrong, but let's call a spade a spade.
It's true that Sony screwed up and used an irresponsible program that hurt innocent people - everyone affected deserves to be financially compensated, and all CD's with the program should be recalled. But Sony only did this to protect their business. If you're getting robbed blind every day, you're going to get desperate.
And let's not forget that as far as illegal actions go, the score is now Sony - 1, music pirates - a few trillion. People frustrated with restrictions on file sharing don't care about the law, just their ability to get free music. I'd love to see a freshman argue the legality of Sony's actions while doing a keg stand to a downloaded Blink-182 CD.
Let's also not forget that downloading hurts musicians. Yes, it helps a lot of bands get off the ground, but once they get big, are people going to stop downloading their music and buy the CDs instead? No, they won't.
As illegal downloading has grown, album sales have been steadily declining. And while a tiny segment of musicians are wildly rich - shut up, Lars Ulrich, your finances are A-OK - most still travel from show to show in a van from 1985 that needs a paint job.
But not to worry - I have a solution.
One of the terms for illegal file sharing - my favorite one, in fact - is "piracy." This got me thinking. Should we really be insulting pirates by comparing them to a 90-pound high school junior with acne searching for the new Hoobastank album in underwear his mom bought him? Doesn't seem smart to me.
Let's leave piracy to real pirates. You should only be able to download music if you have a peg leg, an eye patch, mean sword skills, a clipper ship with mounted cannons and a chest of buried treasure. And maybe scurvy. Let's see how many people download music after that law gets passed.
Or here's another solution: Buy the CD. You'll get the experience of shopping in a real music store with real people, get the cool album art, and most importantly, you'll pay back the band you claim to support.
