----Original Message Follows---- From: KJRHO@aol.com Hey everybody, since we had a discussion about downloading music. I wanted u'll to read my speech for study skills and tell me what you think. Thanks, Kat

Have you ever heard the old story of the farmer who went to church

alone one Sunday, because his wife was sick? Well, she wanted to know what

the sermon was about so she asked him,

"What did the preacher talk about?"

"Sin."

"Well, what he say about it?"

"He was against it."

Most people would agree that they are against stealing, just like they

are against sinning. But what separates people is their definition of

stealing -- because music can be downloaded free off the internet, is it

stealing to do this? I believe this is stealing for these reasons--it is a

violation of copyright laws; it is a theft of the composer's creativity; and

it deprives the artist of royalties that are due him and therefore increases

the price of CD's.

The first reason I consider downloading music as stealing is that most

artists have copyrighted their works to protect the musician and his artistic

effort. Copyright law is defined by www.dictionary.com as "the legal right

granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to

exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary,

musical, dramatic, or artistic work." This means the music cannot be

downloaded unless there is written permission from the composer. Therefore,

when someone downloads an MP3, he or she is violating musical artist's legal

rights. But if one buys the CD, he has permission from the artist to play

and listen to the music.

The next reason I consider downloading music as stealing, is that this

habit takes a service or product from an artist without paying for it.

Robbery of a famous artist's painting would be stealing. Copying a

well-known song is the same as stealing a popular painting--you have taken

part of the artist's creativity without paying for it. No matter how you

slice it, these two activities amount to stealing.

Finally, the illegal copying of music makes CD prices higher for those

customers who actually buy the CD. Because the artist has lost out on

revenues of lost sales, he must raise the price of his CD's in order to make

a living. Therefore, the honest, ethical music lover ends up being hit in

the pocketbook because of unauthorized copies of the CD.

Some of the people who illegally download and burn CD's will try to

justify their position by saying "everyone does it." However, we know that

this is not an acceptable practice and that frequency of occurrence does not

excuse or forgive a sin. In conclusion, the downloading of music from the

internet is wrong. It is the willful breaking of copyright laws, it is the

theft of creative energy, and it has negative economic impact upon the

musician as well as the legal music customer. Sin is sin. Stealing is

stealing.