You thieving Gyppo bastards!

Happily we don't have to put up with this sort of moronic legislation in the UK (yet), but I cannot help but sympathise with the righteous anger I'm reading all over the web from Americans about the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act. Unlike Reid, I've bought loads of CDs in the last year. A substantial proportion of those purchases were driven by the download of an mp3 or two in order to find out whether I liked the music first. I also much prefer to own the original CD, with the proper sound quality and the artwork.

I strongly disapprove of music piracy. It's hard enough for musicians to make a living with people stealing their work. Sure, I download lots of music; but to preview it, not to steal it. If I like it, I buy it. If I don't, I delete it. The only time I burned a whole CD was a few months back when I downloaded the whole of UFO's "Strangers In The Night" album because I couldn't buy it here. When a friend went to Boston a couple of months ago I got her to buy it for me. It's much better. I can hear things on the original that aren't there on the one I burned from mp3s. There are millions of people all over the world who do what I do. We're not thieves, just customers.