[stimpee]

Its quite simple.

Of course downloading 40,000 copies of something is different to stealing 40,000 CDs. But, downloading a copy of an album only has no effect if you werent intending to buy the CD anyway. The only time it makes a difference is when you were going to then got the free mp3s and didnt buy it. However, theres the flipside which is when you hear a few mp3s from a band you've never heard of, and then proceed to buy their CDs based on this.

The data based on the actions above is pretty much guesswork. The people discovering new music and buying CDs vs the people stopping buying and just downloading. Its very hard to quantify.

As for me, I dont buy very much music anymore, but I do have around 2000 CDs already so I dont feel too guilty about downloading stuff. I've given a lot of cash to the music industry, far more than the average joe. I do like and prefer physical product, and its getting harder to walk into a shop and buy a CD. I think that thanks to the music industry not being quick enough to provide an easy way to buy digital music, they are getting used to not buying anything and we'll have a generation of people used to getting all their music for free.