Well... here's what I think! Excuse the weird attempt at quoting what you said, but I can't do the usual blockquote or italics. :( This blog software sucks- it is impossible to post anything longer than two lines. Feel free to email me if you want to talk about this more... But I'll make an attempt at replying. You said: START--->After all, when you look at your mp3 collection and see music you never paid for, its really no difference culturally than if you had a pile of stolen CDs sitting right there on the floor.<---END An mp3 collection of non-paid for music is looked at the record companies and the owner of the content like that, but not in a general cultural context. That mp3 collection full of stolen music is not at all like a pile of stolen CDs culturally; rather, it is like a pile of CD-Rs that you burned, copying music from a friend. Or like a shelf of VHS tapes that were all recorded off of TV, copied from a friend's copy or from a tape you rented. Or a computer whose software is all pirated, installed off of a friend's CD. What do these all have in common? A lot of people- even people whe consider themselves moral and ethical, including to but not limited to Christians, will engage in these methods of library-building. The reasons aren't all that complex- for it to happen it needs to be relatively easy. You're getting something for nothing or next to nothing, and nothing is "stolen" in the sense of physical property. I think most people would feel a ton worse for stealing a 10-cent individual piece of gum from a gas station than for downloading a few unlicensed mp3s. Culturally, these crimes are a world apart- one is depriving someone for compensation due for their property, and the other is thought of as a "victimless crime"- a music artist or record company doesn't have something taken away when I copy a CD. A lot of people who do these things say "well, I wouldn't have purchased it anyway, the only reason I have a burned copy is that it was easy and available." I've known people with vast libraries of downloaded and burned CDs, DVDs, and computer games/software. They only use a fraction of the library usually, but still collect compulsively. This isn't most people, mind you, but interesting IMHO. My very Roman Catholic grandma has a big library of VHS tapes copied from video rentals and I guaruntee you she never once equated with what she did as stealing. I'm sure she knew it was illegal, but legality does not dictate morality with most folk. I agree that if magically you managed to change human nature so that people no longer downloaded music, movies and other media they didn't pay for, yeah, there would be less litigation. But that just isn't going to happen. I think we will have to go down the path of a DRM hell, and the pendulum will swing back toward openness- but only a little. I think we'll be stuck with something like Apple's DRM or something like it- compared to the other systems around it's downright libertine, but it is still "less free" than just purchasing a CD.