Beg, Borrow, Steal?

I'm somewhat conflicted about the DRM debate. On one hand, what's the *real* difference between getting a song "legally" online and taping it from the radio? Aside from format, I mean. I used to record HOURS of music from the radio as a kid. I wouldn't buy that many cassettes (because I was usually saving up for more books, because I am a total geek) because I didn't need to. The "Hot 9 at 9" had every song I wanted at the time, so I would tape it. On this same hand, isn't music art to be shared with everyone? Wasn't that the original goal: to share your gift with others? To pass along a message in your own voice?

There are always* going to be people who prefer to buy the actual CD , myself included (*probably). I like getting the case, the booklet, the pretty CD all pre-labeled just for me... It's a hassle to download music. I don't have an iPod (gasp! sputter! choke!), so if I want to listen to music in my car (commercial-free music), it has to be on CD. So I have to purchase the song somewhere, DL it, burn it (and others I've saved up for this purpose) in random order, create a CD label (with either Sharpie or my oh-so-easy to use label-maker), and let it float around, case-less. It's not worth it most of the time. I'll just buy the CD usually.

On the other hand... People are getting less and less of their hard-earned millions if things are all willynilly and unregulated. I think the real reform needs to be that CDs and concerts are cheaper so that people are more likely to go down legal avenues to hear their favorite stuff. Bottom line: If you don't like something enough to pay for it, do you really need it in the first place or are you just getting it because it's "free"?

I'm as conflicted about this topic as I am about whether or not "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is going to suck as much as I predict it will. (At least the 5th movie will be excellent. It was a terrible book, so the movie is sure to look awesome by comparison. Woo!)

I really liked MusicMap more than LivePlasma, honestly. There were artists who didn't even show up on the latter (um, Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and Regina Spektor to name a few), and the ones that did show up were connected to some completely ridiculous choices. What does The Offspring have to do with Green Day? Even more unreal: just how are Nirvana and Weezer linked again? Aside from both being Geffen Records artists at one point, I fail to see the connection. Counting Crows were/are(?) Geffen artists, too; why weren't they listed? Very poor form. But MusicMap correctly interpreted Weezer and linked them with some similar (and somewhat copy-catty) artists. Also, they had the three missing artists from above (and correctly linked some of them).

Very fun week! :)