Simon, I agree with you. There is no "re-royalty" on books. I loan my books all the time. Am I a thief there too?

Danielle, Hubbard, USA

If your next-door neighbour could clone his BMW, and give you an identical car, from another BMW which a second friend had cloned for him, would you take it? If the friend still has something, whilst sharing it with you through an identical means, is this wrong? That is the question.

Samuel Gosney, Reading,

Andrea Cork
Sharing music you like with "somebody" is not the same as
claiming the right to put it on the internet for "anyone" to download for free. Even assuming you paid for a CD/download
doesn't mean you OWN the music - which is still the property of the artist - you only own the CD/download.

Jurgen Korduletsch, New York, USA

It really annoys me that so many people seem to think that downloading without paying is not the same as stealing. And always that excuse that musicians are rich enough. The chairman of Tesco is also rich, but that still doesn't give me the right to steal there.

G. Vanhecke, Ashford, Kent

If I buy a book & let someone else read it, or if I resell it on eBay, is not the same 'crime' being committed ie. preventing the author from earning royalties?Painters/artists don't get re-sale royalties when their works sell on, usually at vastly inflated sums...

simon, richmond, uk

J Korduletsch, New York, USA
Nobody here wants to take something from another person.
Here it is about making use of what you purchased. If you want to share it there should be no-one disallowing that.
This corporations are like candle factories lamenting that lamp bulbs put them out of business.

Andrea, Cork,

Errrrr - we pay for the luxury of these music owners to become wealthy beyond belief !!!! Then when we want a slice of the apple - we are told ON YER BIKE !!!! It is all a load of COBBLERS !!!!!

ian payne, walsall,

No matter what spin you put on it it's stealing from the creators.
How would you like it if people took the fruits of your labor for
nothing in return or expected you to do your job without pay?!

J Korduletsch, New York, USA

Brilliant comments. Do not let "them" deprive everyone the right to use your own property.

Rod, Sao Paulo, Brazil

people have "downloaded" music for years, they used to buy a record then lend it to someone who made a audio cassete copy, its just nowadays "lending" takes place worldwide

the music industry has enjoyed mega rich times for years, they are not the only industry to lose out on new technical advance

mhepton, algarve, portugal

I download music from the distant past and the odd movie or TV show,If I did,nt do that there is no chance in hell that I would pay for it,its a mistake to think that people would pay if they could,nt get it for free and share it with others... giving and sharing is Christian

Hugh E Torrance, London, England

Cliff Jones fails to understand the law in search of pejorative terms such as 'music theft'. By definition, theft deprives the rightful owner of the use of the property. This is clearly not the case with intangible intellectual property.

Clearly an industry that has outstayed its welcome!

Matthew, London, UK

Why is the music industry concerned now? I first downloaded music in 1999. They should have got on the bandwagon 10 years ago and made legal download sites. It's their own fault for being inefficient.

Sascha, London,

if only there is a free vote on the illegal downloading issue, it will become legal for once and for all- since almost everyone is infringing the issue as mentioned in the Cliff's article.

Is there any proof that quality of music suffers under this issue? or its just an urban myth?

B Walsh, Bristol, UK

Most people make music for fun, not to make money. If musicians didn't make any money from their music (which most don't) they would still make music, they would still buy instruments and production equipment, and the music would still be good. You don't need to live in a mansion to make good tunes.

George, Bristol, UK

Utter rubbish. Just because the mechanism for ripping people off has gone doesn't justify the extortionate money that these labels did make (and to an extent still do).

Simon, York, England

'their activities will ultimately reduce the quality and amount of good music'

Starting from present levels of quality, that will take some doing.

MDHinton, Sieradz, Poland

80,000 tracks at 75p each? Where on earth can you buy music that cheap? I don't have and probably never will have an iPOD. 80,000 tracks at the normal rip-off prices would be in excess of £400,000, then I'd have to spend my time ripping and copying to another format.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Since this controversy eruped on the music scene I just simply bowed out.I never downloaded music and now I don't buy.If the public would stop buying for 6 months,this problem would solve itself.

ron, toronto,

The problem is that the Music Industry adds no value - the value is the music itself not the product upon which it is delivered.

Look around you at how many music events there are albeit by assorted amatuers and enthusiasists. It may not be studio perfect but it is nonetheless music and enjoyable

mustaffa, eastwood notts,

What Cliff Jones doesn't mention is the growing success of iTunes (over 3 Billion songs downloaded to date) and Amazon.com in the US. Both are growing.... why? Because they offer songs at a price and in a format *people want*!

The Labels are dead, not the music.

Andy, PLymouth,

If Play.com can sell DVDs at £2.99 and box sets at £5.99 (with free postage), who is ripping off who?

Trevor Martindale, Romford, England

Music just isn't that valuable. The recording industry was able to maintain an artificially high price while they controlled the production process. Now that anyone can copy and distribute arbitrary amounts of digital music for virtually no cost it's essentially worthless.

Penny Hull, London, UK

Oh well, it's a small hit to take for having such a free choice :)

Davey, Landan,

Many people no longer respect the copyright law because they are laws that protect the greedy and lazy. The recording companies seek to keep extending the copyright protection when whoever that made the recordings are already long dead. It lets them keep on raking in money without doing a thing.

hazh, Oxford,

Cliff Jones just doesn't get it. The commerce-driven model of the music "biz" was never permanent, and is now finished. I've been producing hits for 25 years+ and can only see a bright future. The biggest thieves have always been the labels. The music will only ever get better. Long live the mashup.

Alastair Johnson, Alicante, Spain

I pay the plumber an exorbitant price to install my central heating boiler and I certainly don't intend to pay him every time the heating switches on.

A. Robertson, Edinburgh,