is it unethical to download music?

I liked my answer the best

You know what's better than having them on my computer? Having the bands play in my living room.

How do you feel about your actual achievements?

I yield.

Sometimes they can't make it, though. So I settle for Spotify. Quicker than buying a CD or finding a torrent.

Hey you and I actually agree on something.

The music industry had to foresee at some point that once everything went digital it would be a lot easier for people to pirate it. It was a risk they had to be willing to take, no?

There lies your problem, what you believe to be more than they deserve, or what you understand to be more than they deserve isnt necessarily correct. By stealing music you are not stealing from one man with Billions of dollars sitting on a golden throne. You are stealing from a company, a company that pays not just the artists whose music you have stolen, but their staff, potentially thousands of people from big wig executives right down to the dude who fetches the coffee. Whilst those on million dollar salaries can afford to lose a penny or two there are others who dont deserve their livelihoods to be affected by the selfish actions of others.

There is no excuse to steal music with the multitude of free music available now. Spotify, Deezer, Last FM. Those are just off the top of my head.

Most people wouldnt steal a portrait from under a street artists nose yet the anonymity of the internet means movies, games and music are fair game.
People who say they dont feel guilty because of the "selfish billion dollar music industry" are just making excuses. Fact is they are doing it because they can get away with it.

Not at all, but it does make it that much harder to control. I think anytime you put your information on the internet, whether it be music, pictures, personal info, credit card numbers, etc, there's always a chance it could be stolen. It's the nature of the beast. Best you can do is try to protect yourself, but that doesn't mean it's not going to fall into the wrong hands.

Given your second statement , why did u even mention "it depends" ? :D

How are they not the same? Someone legally purchased a copy of whatever material it is, and then shares it, either by loaning a physical object or sharing a file. Why is what Blockbuster was doing is okay, but if I buy something and then loan it to a friend, either temporarily or permanently, it's wrong?

I'm playing devil's advocate here. I don't really see much difference between sharing files and sharing books.

I think one of the differences is that piracy generally involves COPYING material, whereas the things you mentioned don't.

For example, someone can buy an album, copy it, and then simultaneously give it out to 50 other people while retaining the original copy. Whereas with Blockbuster, they might buy 50 copies of a movie, but each one of those is only in use by ONE person at a time. They then return the movie and someone else uses it.

I mean, if you buy a DVD, you can let a dozen of your friends borrow it, that's fair use. But you've crossed the line once you COPY IT and then give a copy to your friend.

@k--m--k: No, I don't think it's wrong to download music. I actually find it quite stupid for having to pay for music because it's just a song with a tune and lyrics. Why do I have to pay for something digital? And it's not like a DLC or an audio-book where you can actually enjoy it alot. Getting free music is considered pirating and therefore illegal, unless you don't get it from free music sites. You can just do what I do, go to a YouTube to MP3 converter website and convert any YouTube video to an MP3 file and enjoy! This is actually not illegal because you aren't technically stealing music; you're stealing a random video uploaded by a random person on a video-sharing website.

Ethics are massively subjective. All in the eye of the beholder. Ethicists are massive hypocrites.