Reporter’s Notebook

At first, I got interested in writing this article because I wanted to know why I got blocked from using Napster. Before I decided to write this article and began researching, I had no idea that downloading certain songs through Napster was technically a crime. I knew that you couldn’t claim someone else’s music as your own, but I didn’t know that exchanging copyrighted songs was theft (I didn’t know that there were copyrighted songs, either). As I researched, I realized that if you give someone’s music to other people without paying or getting permission, you are stealing that music.

But many teens who I talked with seemed to think that this is no big deal. They don’t think that downloading copyrighted songs is stealing; they don’t think it will hurt anybody. But even though there are no consequences for downloading copyrighted songs and everybody seems to be doing it, it’s still theft and it’s not OK.
 
I think it’s important for us to listen to music that we like and enjoy. I love listening to Blink-182 or Stevie Wonder when I am writing my term paper or doing homework on my computer. But when it becomes a theft, I think we all need to think twice before clicking that ‘download’ button.