Reflection Blog #1 - Lewis

I believe that I have discovered certain things about myself throughout the readings that I never would have thought about otherwise. For example, while working on week 4's postings, I realized that even though I had downloaded music from P2P sites when I was younger, I had not done it in years, and I no longer felt it was ok. I now look at it as someone else's work, and feel that they should be paid for it, even if they are rich already. Without being a hypocrite, I cannot say that they should not be paid because they have enough money, because I would want to get paid for my labor and ideas if I had the choice. I also realized that I probably did something illegal, or at least unethical, without even realizing it. Several years back, I decided to get rid of most of my CD's, as I had several hundred. Before I sold them at a garage sale or local used music store, I ripped all the songs that I wanted to keep on my computer. Then I sold the discs. In considering Ess's writings in chapter three with regards to the ethics of copying, it made me reconsider what I had done.

In the past, if I bought a CD, it was mine to do with as I pleased, including selling it to someone else if I wanted. Now anyone with a computer has the option of buying a physical CD, ripping a copy of it to their computer, then reselling it. I never even thought twice about what I was doing, and have no explanation why. I just felt I was making copies of the music I purchased. Thinking about this during the last few weeks made me consider how I felt about it.

I bought it, and some of the music I know I ripped to my computer years ago, before I even considered selling the discs. This was done so that I could have a copy in the house, and use the others in the car. Now, if ethically I think it is wrong to download music without paying for it, technically, I suppose I should delete music I have ripped from a CD if I later choose to sell it. I don't know how I feel about that. Here is my thoughts. 15 years ago, if I bought a CD and it got scratched beyond repair, I would have to buy another CD if I wanted the music. Today, I legally can create backups of that CD so if I damage it, I can burn another one. That is a gain for me and a loss for record companies. Now I can also make a copy of it and sell the physical disc to someone else, then burn myself another copy of the disc, which decreases my overall cost for the music.

I feel that it is my right to have the music since I purchased it, but I'm not sure if I can say it's is right or wrong to keep a copy if I sell it. Technically, since I no longer have the source file, I would say that it could be considered illegal.

I believe this class has definitely opened my mind to some things like this and made me examine what I do/have done and how I feel about it.