Average Grod's Average Blog

I illegally downloaded a CD. I know. I know. Bad Garrett. Actually I haven't been able to listen to it without stressing a bit. It's all a bit to Tell Tale Heart for me. Back in school when I would download songs it didn't seem like it was such a big deal. I always figured that the Music Industry was freaking out over nothing. Let me tell you there is a HUGE difference between now and then. It was still wrong but back in the Napster days it was literally just college kids file swapping. You could do it from home but with dial-up you were looking at 5-10 minutes for one song. That meant over one hour for a whole CD. Remember, back then you couldn't use the phone if you were on the internet. Now, with high speed connections popping up everywhere, EVERYTHING is available. Any movie, TV show, Application, Game, Book, if you can think it you can download it. I even saw copies of the Amazing Spiderman from the 60s. Pretty cool for people who want to read those old comics but can't afford or find the originals.

The problem with all this stuff is that it is illegal. I will admit that what I was doing in college was probably wrong but there were some bands that were ok with it. I wasn't into downloading albums. Face it, If it is good enough to steal it is good enough to pay for. I would buy CDs. I downloaded the stuff I couldn't buy. Live performances, and really rare or unreleased demos and B-Sides. I can't even think of a single album I obtained illegally until yesterday. Don't get me wrong I have TONS of mp3 discs laying around but I subscribed to an online music service for over a year so a lot of my collections is legal. Sometimes a buddy would show up with a disc for me and a "you gotta hear this!" If he had shown up at my door with a million bucks, or even a TV, I would questions it but a CD I just accepted. Honestly I guess that is probably wrong too but I never thought about it til now.

So where am I going with all this? Stay tuned and Ill post more tomorrow.