Is free downloading of music stealing? A poll offers a few explanations

A few telling tidbits from a recent Wired article about a poll of 1,000 music listeners:

"...Eighty percent of the respondents consider it stealing to download music for free without the copyright holder's permission, and 92 percent say they've never done it, according to the poll conducted for The Associated Press and Rolling Stone magazine..." [Yeah, sure.]

"...Meanwhile, three-quarters of music fans say compact discs are too expensive, and 58 percent say music in general is getting worse..."

"...Many fans also say they just don't like what they're hearing. It may not be surprising to hear older fans say music just isn't what it used to be when they were growing up. But the poll also found that 49 percent of music fans ages 18-to-34 - the target audience for the music business - say music is getting worse..."

"...Overall, music fans were split on why music sales have been declining for the past five years: 33 percent said it was because of illegal downloads, 29 percent said it was because of competition from other forms of entertainment, 21 percent blamed it on the quality of music getting worse and 13 percent said it was because CDs are too expensive..."

Tom Heany