Downloading music…

Recently an opinion column in the New York Times was killed because it encouraged downloading. Although, I agree downloading should be legal, the argument presented is not sound.

Aaron Swartz :

Stealing is wrong. But downloading isn’t stealing. If I shoplift an album from my local record store, no one else can buy it. But when I download a song, no one loses it and another person gets it. There’s no ethical problem.

The problem is the person who downloaded the music no longer has the need to buy it, which would equate to lost revenue to the music industry. Of course that assumes it was going to be purchased in the first place.