"Steal this MP3 File" DUE Mon. Feb. 11 @ 8:15 a.m.

[Mr. Daiss]

Have you ever "stolen" anything digitally (music, movie, game, book, or something else)?  

If yes, write a paragraph or two to justify your action and defend your action in light of the article.  Then explain which rhetorical appeal(s) and strategy/-ies you used and why you thought those would be most effective.

If no, write a paragraph or two arguing why you disagree with such behavior. Then explain which rhetorical appeal(s) and strategy/-ies you used and why you thought those would be most effective.

[kparys]

In my life I have "stolen" music, but have done it legally of course. Many people use YouTube to search for a new video or song, free of charge. YouTube has been used for many years as a place for personal, and sometimes even funny and comical film. Although in today's age, has been a place for full length famous films and hip new music videos. Technology today has shaped children the way that they are, whether that is for the good or for the bad. Technology allows unlimited sharing of music and constant opportunities to “steal” music. File sharing has become a major problem for companies such as apple, and Microsoft. These companies consider this act worthy of trial, but the public sees file sharing as a use of resources.  I think that file sharing should be allowed, and that YouTube should be a resource for free and unlimited music. If a school for example wants to set up a local area sharing network, they should be allowed to continue with free file sharing. Major companies might be losing profits, yes, but aren’t they developed to HELP the public? And aren’t these companies designed to benefit the user? In today’s market, prices are shooting through the roof on songs and music videos. These were created for enjoyment, not to burn a hole in your pocket or cause financial stress. Music has been shown to calm the mind, and allow escape from life’s daily struggles and worries of what tomorrow will bring. I think that file sharing should be allowed for one reason, the ability for Americans to just sit back, relax, and listen to a few free tunes with their family and friends.

The appeals that stood out to me in this article was the use of the rhetorical appeal ethos. The thought that many have is that file sharing should be legal, and that songs are extremely over priced. I have the same opinion, songs should be a way of enjoyment and not a financial stress. I think that this article was written well, and that G. Anthony made his thoughts clear throughout the article. I strongly agree with him, and that songs should be allowed to be shared with family and friends for relaxation. Although I agree with file sharing, I do not agree with users selling the product and misusing this new technology. If music corporations want this "stealing" to end, they must find a way to compromise with the American public and significantly lower their prices.

[Nathaniel "Naythanyull" Kelley]

          I must confess, I've "stolen" quite a bit of digital media before. I don't know exactly how much, but let's just say Apple wouldn't be happy if they saw how much money they'd missed out on from looking at my playlists. Honestly, I don't really have much to say for myself in ways of defending this action. Pirating music is wrong (Ironically, Weird Al even wrote a song about it!), and the reason it's happened with me so much boils down to pure laziness and lack of thought. At the time, I wasn't thinking about how the $0.99 an artist WASN'T getting from my (or thousands of others') download would affect them. To be even more irrational, I didn't pay for the song simply because "I didn't want to." If I had any excuse for why I thought downloading a song illegally was not immoral, I'd put it here. I just can't really think about anything other than the fact that I regret my decision.

          Ethos is probably the most common rhetorical appeal used when someone is defending their stance or their actions in regard to file sharing. Ethos can be used to try and convince someone that file sharing isn't necessarily illegal, but just kind of... not-illegal? Anyway, this is pretty obvious because in today's society, media piracy is commonly misconceived as something that is frowned upon, but not against the law. Therefore, it would be easy to have someone take your stance on the matter with a bit of ethos.

[jkramer]

As far as I know I do not recall stealing anything digitally but not necessarily beacuse I saw it as wrong and in some cases illegal, but rather because I did not have a real need for it and found that it may be too time consuming. But now that I think about it I would find such behavior wrong and unfair to the music industry. It is not right to steal someone's hard work and get it for free when others have to pay for it. It is obviousy morally wrong to do such things and should make you think twice be for you share and download music. This is a big blow to the major record labels and artists who could be profiting off of this but are instead losing money. Also, the buying of CD's has depleted immensly due to stealing of music. All of these examples justify why it is wrong to steal, downlaod, and share digital media.

 

I used ethos because I thought that would be most effective beacsue it would appeal to your sense of right and wrong. I also thought that it would best display the wrongs of stealing digital media. Ethos is commonly used to make you feel convicted to choose between right and wrong, which is what my goal is here.

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[jkramer]

I think that it interesting that most people don't even think twice about stealing digital media. They just do it because it is what is most convenient to them and don't even think about whether or not it is morally right or wrong. Also, whether it affects anyone, especially the artist who is missing out on their moeny, and why people don't use their sense of right or wrong to decide before they download music. I think that Nathanial made an interesting point about how he did regret his decision to steal music because most people would not have the guts to say so.

[rcowart]

Starting out with tapes, then to CDs, then digital music on the computer, i have never stolen music from a company online before. i have seen it done by my siblings though and at the time did not see it as a crime. To me it was just getting music and using it. To myself, it is not really neccessary for me to do so. I Tunes is usually my go to place, but if I tunes ever went down, my conclusion would problay to go and get it free off of another online source. I do see this article as a warrning for all these teens who have fallen into this society that we are in now, telling us that stealling music from a company for free is defintely a crime.  Stealing in general is a crime, but for some reason us teens don't see that taking music and manipulating the comany to just get the music free is not a crime. We, the people need to catch hold of this article and put it to our daily lives. Stealing is a crime in all situations and even the "borrowing" of music is one of the major crimes that we all need to recognize

Ethos is the best way for the rhetorical appeal to go out. Ethos puts out to you that you are either doing right and not consuming music from other companys for free or your either doing wrong on how you are going out stealing. Ethos is a rhetorical appeal to try and show the reader what they need to change and thats what this article, and myself is trying to show.

 

[csquires]

I have never stolen anything. It would be nice to get free music instead of buying it,but that would be unfair for the people who recieve the money from the purchases. I dont understand why people need to steal the music whie it is only $1.29 or $.99. Why do some people need to steal music or movies? I think some people think it is normal and dont think twice about doing it. Stealing is normal in our society now, but think back 50 years ago when stealing was barely commited. Now stealing iis what everyone does.

i think the rhetorical appeal is ethos, because it makes you think about if you should steal or not. the story makes you not want to get caught and pay a huge fine. Others may entice you to steal, but at the same time you know its wrong.

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[aletaylor]

I don't think i have ever stolen music illegally. I have gone to a website where you can watch new movies for free, but that website got shut down a few months ago. I see no wrong in people trying to get free music or find a way to watch a new movie with out paying. To go to the movies is like $10 and to buy one song is $2. There is nothing wrong with trying to survive in this very
The rhetoric appeal for this ethos. It has to do with right and wrong. Some people might find stealing music and stuff like that wrong. Other people might find this totally ok. I find it totally ok.

[aletaylor]

I agree with kayla. She proves the point and talks about how it proves the point.

[kparys]

I agree with Rachel, and she makes a very good point and a  has a well written analysis. Most people don't see stealing music as a crime but as a way to get free tunes. I also agree with her statement that "this article is a warrning for all these teens who" steal music for free, and that it is a crime. I still stand firm on my point that file sharing should be allowed for family and friends, but not as a marketable product.

[etenney]

     In my life, I have "stolen" music. The reason I download my music off of YouTube is because my iTunes never works on my phone and asks me to enter a answer to a security question I set in third grade. I think it is much easier to do the mp3 dowloader from YouTube. Also, it saves a lot of money rather than spending a dollar twenty-nine per song. I am not sure if this is illegal or not. Many people say it isn't yet, many people say it is wrong. I personally do not find it wrong because, if it were such a problem, I would think somehow people would fix it. 

      The rhetorical appeal that has come to my attention is, ethos. I agree with how Kayla said music should be a way of enjoyment and not financial stress. In my own opinion, I think music is completely over priced. If the price was brought down a little bit maybe people wouldn't use the mp3 dowloaders. 

    
On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[nrogie]

No, I have not stolen anything off the internet, be it video game, music file, or other media. This is mainly because I don't feel the need to. However, I do take the hacker mentality: All software should be free to all internet users. It takes no resources whatsoever -- past a computer and keyboard --  to program a game which may charge users $60 for having the right to use it. All you do is put code in and you can create anything from a best-selling game to an innovative tool which makes millions while you sit in your chair at your computer exercising your fingers.  I could see how you would be paying around 5 dollars for a specially made disc which contains music, because discs take real-life resources, but paying for the set of ordered electrons that makes up downloadable files just doesn't make sense to me. Take Linux for example. It is a perfect operating system that puts itself at the boundary of Apple's OS X and Microsoft's Windows. But it is free. You don't have to pay anything for it, and you can take it from it's official website as well. This makes me wonder why so many people decide to pay for the newest Windows version instead of just downloading Linux off the web. I do think that the correct people should get credit for making a certain software, and if they want people can make donations to someone for creating the software, but unless you are selling the rights as owner of the program, or are selling hard discs, then in my opinion you should not be making any money off it. Other people with the same mentality will easily be able to put your creation on some site at which people of the world can download for free instead of paying for it. Going to Cyprus, where there is no copyright laws, brought me to my conclusion. Over there I can get a DvD of a movie which is still in theaters for 50 cents. There's no point in paying 10 dollars for the downloadable version.

Because the idea of taking media files for free can upset some people's sense of morals, this would definitely be an example of the rhetorical appeal Ethos. This would be the most effective because it would make people regret their possible decision to 'pirate' media off the internet and try to put a stop to it. I try to use ethos in order to persuade people that making and downloading free software isn't bad, but for the time being, stealing the software that isn't free is. More people should try to make free programs and free music, so that eventually we won't have to keep stealing in order to do things we like to do such as playing games or listening to music. I believe that this is the only way to stop internet piracy: make everything free. Otherwise, either people should start feeling extremely guilty, or people need to encrypt their files better, because as the article said, legal action isn't working.

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[nrogie]

I agree, Kayla, that using YouTube's VEVO channels to listen to music is just another way of getting music for free. It isn't illegal, so I use it a lot as well. And free file sharing should be legal as well. However, I disagree on a small thing: in my opinion most Major companies are in it for the money, not to help people. This is why I like to download free software which basically does the same thing, such as VLC player instead of Itunes, or Linux instead of Windows. The people who create the free software are (usually) out to help other people by giving it away. I mean, think about it, a music artist is selling music which you can download. One downloadable file on a website means there are infinite downloadable files to anywhere. If a $10 game is popular enough, and every person on earth bought it, that would be around $80 billion, all from putting in some code on a computer and selling it on a website! This is just an easy (albeit often time-consuming) way of making money. Therefore Windows, now the most popular Operating System used in the world, can sell itself for around $100 dollars if it isn't already added to a brand new computer, which adds billions of dollars into its accounts. It is a brilliant way of making money, but to me just doesn't seem right.

[rgarvin]

In my life I have "stolen" music, most people have. The main reason why I did it is because I ran out of money on itunes and didn't feel like buying more. What is the difference between file-sharing music and just listening to it on YouTube? Everyone at some point has gone on YouTube and listened to song or watched a video but never saw it as "illegal." I honestly don't see the difference between listening to a song on YouTube and file-sharing it. The same goes for movies, you can watch a wide variety of movies on YouTube and it not be illegal, yet if you watch a pirated movie on a website it is all of a sudden illegal? Either way you are not paying for the product. I think a part of the problem with sharing music today has been put on by the companies. Why pay so much for a song when I could just listen to it on YouTube for free?

I think ethos would be the best to describe this. Emotions drive people and cause people to fight for what they believe in.This subject brought a small rise out of me, creating some emotion to the subject. 

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[rgarvin]

I agree with nathaniel on the fact that most the time I download music "illegaly" because I was just too lazy to actually buy the song.

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[smiller]

[smiller]

I have technically "stolen" music off of the internet, but it was not illegal.  It just saves you money and it does not hurt anyone.  I do not think it is "stealing" because it is not illegal and all it really does in the long run is save you money.  I have used the Mp3 download, that alot of my classmates have said they use too,in which to transport music from Youtube onto my phone. I personally do not think this is illegal because if it was someone would have found a way to stop it by now.

 

The rhetorical appeal that I see in this is ethos because "stealing" is the desire for something and your desire for something has to do with your emotions. 

 

Also I agree with Emmy on this topic, most of what she said is exactly how i feel.  She also proved great points throughout her analysis.

[cwilliamson]

I have downloaded old games that came out on previous systems such as the NES or the  SNES. First of all I wouldn't consider it stealing. This is because there are no longer anyways of supporting the developers of these games. If a company made a video game in the 80's an you buy that game online the money that you pay for the game is no longer going to the creator of that game the money is going to the person that previously owned that game. It is also legal without a doubt to emulate a game if you already own it, but if you downloaded the game for free wouldn't you "technically" already own it. Because you downloaded the game its your personal copy for your personal use. If there is no way to support the creator of a product it is not stealing. This is with online data though. If you were to walk up to someone and steal their personal copy of the game that would be considered stealing, because it is there personal copy of the game and they own it. With online downloads for old games no one owns so it's free game. 

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[gparsons]

I have "stolen" music before. I agree with cole in saying that i don't rectify it as stealing. People put the music on the internet so that people who don't have the money at the time to buy I-Tunes cards or stuff like that can get the music they want. It lets people get all this free music, but i also have to point out that some are just scams and  they use that so they can get into your computer and hack it. But, otherwise i don't think i have stolen anything. It's like going to the grocery store and seeing that they are giving free samples of food. You see that they are offering  something that you would like to have, so you get it. Then later, when you have the money, you get the rest. It's just how it works.  

[Jasmine Lee]

Well, I guess if you call downloading a song off the internet on website made specifically for downloading music for FREE is stealing. Then, yes I have “stolen” something, but it’s not illegal. I mean it saves you money and time because I-tunes just takes way too long. Why in the world would I pay 6.00 for a song on I-tunes, when I know I can get for free off the internet. Just like Sims said, if download free music off a certain website was illegal, then someone would have taken action. But looks like they didn't, so technique in my eyes, it’s not at all illegal .

The rhetorical strategies use in this particular article was ethos because “stealing” purposely knows that you are taking something without permission, but you really have a desire to have it. So, you want it, you get it. Feelings.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "English 9 Honors" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to english9hon...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

[zallen]

I would have to say that I have "stolen" music, but I didn't think of it as stealing. I thought of it as a good way to get free music. The reason I "stole" music was because I downloaded a free app where you could download any song that you wanted for free. At the time, I had no money to buy songs off of iTunes. This could be a bad thing because the companies that produce the songs aren't getting credit for what they have made. Other people are downloading them illegally. If you think about it in the way that the record companies don't already have millions of dollars why can't they spare some money so that people can get a couple free songs.

I used the rhetorical appeal ethos because it uses right and wrong. "Should I? or Should i not download this song illegally?"

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 11:39:35 PM UTC-5, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[mstroud]

      I will admit I have stolen music offline before. Nobody wants to spend their money on music when you know you could get it for free. Although it is not morally right, I did it. It's it wrong to do this because the artist and company's make money off of the music they make being sold, and before getting it for free is wrong. Although it may be wrong, nobody from to company of itunes or people that are mad about it have fixed it...? So maybe it's not as bad as some people see it out to be.
     I think it is ethos because it's your decision and appeal to steal it or not. It starts to create some emotion to the stubject as well because this is a big thing in the society today I feel like.

[zallen]

I agree with Kayla when she says that even when someone goes to YouTube to search a song, it is basically "stealing" because you can listen to a whole song completely free of charge. 

On Saturday, February 9, 2013 4:22:51 PM UTC-5, kparys wrote:

[mstroud]

     I agree with Kayla on this subject. It may be wrong to "steal" the music. Although music takes us away from our world and seems to calm us so it should not be such a stress to buy this music that calms us but it should be free for those who cannot afford the music they want to afford. If these websites that let us download the free music were SO TERRIBLE then maybe they should delete them. 

[aherndon]

I have downloaded a lot of free music.  I don't really see why this is illegal because it isn't illegal to look up a song on YouTube which is pretty much the same as downloading a free song.  The artists already have a ton of money so why should they get money from me just so I can listen to their song.  Another reason why people think it is ok to download free music is because this "law" isn't really enforced.  I'm pretty sure most everyone in the US has "stolen" at least one song or other type of media.  I'm not saying downloading free music is right, what i'm saying is that if the government really cared about people downloading free music then they would put a stop to it.  The only reason downloading free music or any other type of media is not good to do is because it is not the right thing to do.  We should probably stop downloading free stuff just because it would be the right thing to do.

I mostly used logos because I came up with all of my reasons using logic. I thought it would be most effective because it shows how it is logical to download free music instead of wasting your money.  I also used Ethos in my last two sentences because it was the best rhetorical appeal to use to explain why we should stop downloading free media.

[aherndon]

I agree with Jasmine because I also think downloading free music would be stopped if people actually cared about it

[Nathaniel "Naythanyull" Kelley]

I agree, Nick. Big-time companies will charge a lot of money for software that can be found elsewhere for little to no cost. In response to why most people use Windows, I think it's because (for some reason) a majority of software companies make their products compatible only with Windows (or OS X) as an agreement with Microsoft. Linux has much less available software than Windows, simply because Windows has been around longer, and many developers have old business relationships with Microsoft.

[cbashlor]

I have "stolen" music off the internet because it is about the stupidest thing ever to actually have to buy music. If this were even considered stealing, I think someone would have taken action by now to shut down those websites and stop people from taking music. Yet, no one has done anything so this leads to people to believe that it is ok to take music off the internet free of charge. 

The rhetorical strategies used in this was "ethos" because if you want to steal something than you must want this pretty badly. Badly enough to steal. It changes your feelings. 

[cbashlor]

I agree with Jasmine and Sims. If downloading free music off the internet was illegal then it would have been stopped a very long time ago but we still can get free music. Obviously what we are doing is no crime.

[jpark]

I haven't illegally stolen anything from anybody I don't think. I might have without knowing it, but I hope I haven't. But if I look at the app industry, they have apps that allows people to download music, movies, books, etc. for free and I don't think the people who download it get caught. Does that mean the people who made the app stole the music or whatever? Also taking someone else's work without giving them credit isn't fair to whomever created the work. It's illegal to "steal" someone's work if it's not allowed. Kind of like plagiarism (I think). If it's illegal, you could possibly get caught by the FBI or someone because the music, book, game, etc. should have a copyright thingy to it, so it must be illegal to copy what your copying. Like said in 'Steal This MP3 File: What Is Theft?', the students don't realize they are actually "stealing" from copying a few pages from a book. Most people don't realize they are stealing until they get caught with a fine or a warning from someone.

I think the rhetorical appeal would have to be ethos because it's the appeal of right or wrong. Some people think stealing is good, and MOST don't! People don't see taking music "stealing" because it's probably done daily. 

[jpark]

I agree with Emmy with how music is overpriced & if it were cheaper, more people would buy the music other than stealing it. I also agree with Jillia when she said that stealing another person's hard work isn't right and getting it for free when others have to pay for it. Nathaniel also makes a good point when he was saying that he was lazy to buy the song from iTunes or someplace. I think people don't want to pay for the music that's why they steal it, but to think of it, I think stealing takes more work and worrying because you don't want to get caught by anyone and you have to find places to "steal" the music from.......

[dclaxton]

I have "stolen" music online before. In my head it isn't stealing if iTunes lets an app for that remain on the market. I think its being smart because music and other online things you can buy are overpriced. You can listen to it on youtube or listen to it on the pandora app for free as well. It saves you money in the long run by paying for internet and getting it all for free instead of paying the dollar for a 3 minute long clip that you can get for free somewhere else. This has to do with ethos because stealing is wrong but stealing music isn't as bad as stealing a car or something.

[dclaxton]

I agree with Kayla in the fact that file sharing should be legal because it is just people being smart with the resources they are given.

 

[ttriplett]

I have stolen a good amount of media in my day. 99.99% being every mix tape, freestyle, interview, guest appearance, movie, documentary, ringtone, single, or albume that eminem has ever published. I don't think that it is right to steal or pirate music. Sometimes I scold myself saying "if you were a real fan then you would help support this artist by buying his CDs and giving him your money".
I think illegally downloading music speaks to me as ethos. It speaks to the moral/who you are nature of the act.

[taaron]

I can honestly say that i have never stolen any music or anything online before. This is not because i think it is wrong, I am just too electronically stupid to figure it out and since i have no apple or smartphone to put it on i have no need to learn. But if i did, i do not think bad of it because times are hard these days and sometimes music is the only way to get through them and it seems that the only way to  get music is to either download it, buy it for 50,000 dollars or buy the album and burn the CD and everyone knows how annoying that is. So it seems like our only option is to take it. Im sure doing this really makes the authors and singers really mad because they put so much work into their songs that make their money and people can just take it for free. I remember how furious Lars Ulrich (ddrummer for Metallica) got when his music was not selling because everyone would steal it from free music downloaders like limewire. i see how this could make people mad but really dude? You got like 10 million dollars!! stop being a little child. Anyway i think getting music anyway we can is ok.

If i had to say i think i used a combination of ethos and logos. what i wrote talks about the difference between right and wrong of stealing. Then logos because if you had the option to get something for free or pay for it, it seems logical to get it for free doesn't it? 

[hyun]

Yes, I admit I have stolen musics in my life. LIke Nathaniel said, I can't really defend myself very well on this because I guess it is a bad habbit of most people. But if I have to defend myself, I really don't see any difference between watching and listening the movies and musics on Youtube and all those websites people use and "stealing" musics. If this is considereds as bad and illegal, I would say Youtube is illegal.  Like most people pointed out, these problems would be stopped if it really is llegal. Maybe they did try, but it wasn't stopped anyways. Plus, most websites (I don't really know any websites other than Youtube) explains this as "sharing the file" not "stealing the file."

I think that this appeal and whole discussion is considered as etho because we are dealing with "crimes" (stealing or not). If we use ethos, we will prove if it is right or wrong.

On Thursday, February 7, 2013 8:39:35 PM UTC-8, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[jocoates]

I have never stolen anything digitally. Theft is theft. Whether you take money from your innocent grandma or you download a pirated Justin Bieber song, you are still stealing. Thievery is illegal in America and morally wrong for Christians. One of the 10 Commandments is "Thou shalt not steal." As a Christian, when tempted by FREE pirated music, I must remain strong in my faith and resist the temptation. Just because you are not the one to hack into a recording studio’s computer system, does not mean that you did not steal the song. The website that allowed the free download stole it.  I agree with Gorry when he says that the download of pirated music, videos, etc. desensitize people (especially teens) to theft.

            I used pathos.  I tried to make the reader feel guilt.  I used the Bible and American laws to prove thievery is morally wrong.  By making the reader feel guilty of theft that they have committed countless times, may make them rethink the next time they consider downloading a pirated song.

 

 

[taaron]

even though i see this as not such a bad thing i think i agree with tristan. if we love our favorite artist music so much i think the least we should do is support them in buying their music in a hard copy

[taaron]

i find it very ironic that everyone decides to do their response on a music topic the night of the grammys. just putting that out there

[rirappa]

I have "stolen" music from a website in fact I am listening to it right now. Why the music industry makes us pay 9.99 for one album of music is beyond me when you can just go on YouTube and listen to it however many times you want. In fact I don't understand why anyone would pay that much because there is just no reason why you buy a song for 1.29. I also don't find it that big of deal that I am stealing music because musicians pockets aren't hurting from me downloading one free song. In "Steal this MP3 File", they say that the people put it out there tempting you to steal it and they also charge an unfairly high price for the book in this situation. This is true to all music in apple nowadays because their songs are 1.29. Music was also made to fit everything in your life. If you hear a good song the first thing you will do is to look it up on YouTube to see if you like it the second time and to listen to it because you feel like it applies to your life. Music usually calms you or in fact pumps you up. It was not made to worry you which is what the industry is doing by making you pay 1.29 for the song which in fact piles up because I have 400 songs on my phone that I don't even listen to anymore because they are old. Also I justify myself by saying that this free music app was an app on the App Store of iTunes. If it is an app on iTunes then they reviewed this app and approved it so they must not care. 

 

Ethos is mostly what I used in this paragraph because I tried to stretch the truth and make downloading mp3 files justified which I believe it is. Also I used very simple language and easy sentences to understand very plain and very normal talk because I was trying to prove a point that free music sharig and dowmloading is just fine.

 

[jocoates]

Alex, your main point is that theft of music is not wrong because the artists already have a lot of money. Okay, based off of that reasoning, I am going to steal your mom's car because y’all are rich and have enough money to buy another one. Ahhh, if only the world really did work that way. You also said in your last paragraph that you are “wasting your money” when you pay for a song.  Under that logic, buying a car is a big waste of money.  You should just go steal it instead.  Another point of yours is that digital theft is justified because no one enforces any laws that state otherwise. So, that is like saying I am not breaking the law when I am not wearing a seat belt because I have never been pulled over by a cop. In the same way, it is still thievery even if you are not caught.  I used logos proving Alex’s argument wrong.  Using logos, the reader cannot deny my argument.

[rirappa]

Those who think they haven't stole anything digitally have you? Think about it you have listened to music and videos on youtube for FREE. The point of the industry is to get money out of this kind of stuff and they are not with YouTube. Technically YouTube you are downloading a video to watch for a short period of time.

[pdaugherty]

I totally haven't pirated music before Mr. "Daiss", or should I say Mr. Undercover FBI.  But, in a completely hypothetical world, let's say I have stolen music.

I think that artists should put their music up on the internet for free because they'll still make a ton of money from concerts, advertising, merchandise, etc. and oh boo hoo they won't be able to afford that sixteenth lambo, cry me a river. Those who say that stealing music is wrong, I completely disagree with you because, although the music that they produce is their intellectual property, who cares? No one is going to steal a song and call it theirs, in fact they'll probably share it with other people who will buy shirts and stuff from that band.  If I were a musician, i'd encourage the pirating of my music because it gets my name out there more.  In fact, in a completely hypothetical world, I'm probably listening to stolen music as I write this response.

[pdaugherty]

I forgot to answer the last question so ethos.

[lreed]

In my life I have stolen music from the Internet. It may or may not have been illegal... But as Emmy states, it's just too expensive! What if I spent a dollar twenty nine on every song that I have? I have over 500 songs. That's money that can be put into something more valuable than just an entertainment source. I think that iTunes should lower the prices of their music because in the long run, they are losing business whereas if they just lowered their prices, they would still bring in profit versus not making anything at all.

The rhetoric appeals I noticed were ethos and pathos.

[pdaugherty]

I agree with Nick because stealing music/games/movies/whatever on the internet is not actually stealing because you are merely copying whatever you are "stealing" and putting on your computer.

On Sunday, February 10, 2013 2:30:04 PM UTC-5, nrogie wrote:

No, I have not stolen anything off the internet, be it video game, music file, or other media. This is mainly because I don't feel the need to. However, I do take the hacker mentality: All software should be free to all internet users. It takes no resources whatsoever -- past a computer and keyboard --  to program a game which may charge users $60 for having the right to use it. All you do is put code in and you can create anything from a best-selling game to an innovative tool which makes millions while you sit in your chair at your computer exercising your fingers.  I could see how you would be paying around 5 dollars for a specially made disc which contains music, because discs take real-life resources, but paying for the set of ordered electrons that makes up downloadable files just doesn't make sense to me. Take Linux for example. It is a perfect operating system that puts itself at the boundary of Apple's OS X and Microsoft's Windows. But it is free. You don't have to pay anything for it, and you can take it from it's official website as well. This makes me wonder why so many people decide to pay for the newest Windows version instead of just downloading Linux off the web. I do think that the correct people should get credit for making a certain software, and if they want people can make donations to someone for creating the software, but unless you are selling the rights as owner of the program, or are selling hard discs, then in my opinion you should not be making any money off it. Other people with the same mentality will easily be able to put your creation on some site at which people of the world can download for free instead of paying for it. Going to Cyprus, where there is no copyright laws, brought me to my conclusion. Over there I can get a DvD of a movie which is still in theaters for 50 cents. There's no point in paying 10 dollars for the downloadable version.

Because the idea of taking media files for free can upset some people's sense of morals, this would definitely be an example of the rhetorical appeal Ethos. This would be the most effective because it would make people regret their possible decision to 'pirate' media off the internet and try to put a stop to it. I try to use ethos in order to persuade people that making and downloading free software isn't bad, but for the time being, stealing the software that isn't free is. More people should try to make free programs and free music, so that eventually we won't have to keep stealing in order to do things we like to do such as playing games or listening to music. I believe that this is the only way to stop internet piracy: make everything free. Otherwise, either people should start feeling extremely guilty, or people need to encrypt their files better, because as the article said, legal action isn't working.

[lreed]

I agree with Grayson, some people just don't have the money to spend on music. Which brings me back to the point that music is just way to expensive when you can receive free music from the Internet, especially youtube.

[sperry]

According to this little... thing... i have stolen probably 100+ dollars in music, and even more when it comes to emulator games. It really is shocking when you read firsthand how that affects the actual people who did all the work. Its like legal theft. What i don't understand is why all this stuff is still legal. I see why it would be illegal, as the people that make the products are only receiving money from about half the people that actually obtain the product. For example, i just downloaded the GBA fire emblem on my phone via emulator, and the rom itself had over 70,000 downloads. if the game went for about 5 dollars, then that is about 350,000 dollars the company is not receiving. I dont see how thats legal but, it is.

Ethos is what i used in a sense that showing this stuff is not illegal. Stealing media is wrong, and we all know it, so why do we do it? the answer is because others justify it with ethical appeals. Hey, look at that, 70,000 people got the fire emblem rom, it must be safe. Follow the bandwagon guys, follow it closely... OH, and its not illegal! If there is nothing wrong about it, just do it! amirite?

[sperry]

I have to disagree with nick, just kidding, Nick is absolutely right in his views of stuff that can be sold for profit. People donate stuff, and that is of their own will. Selling a physical object that was made by you, well, if you're the one selling it, is fine. But when it comes to digital stuff, why in the world would you pay money? Its not like the people making it are actually doing anything, after all, technically THEY are the ones stealing, at one point or another.

[mnelson]

Yes, I have. I used to use Limewire to download music to my iPod when I was like 10. I obviously didn't think it was a huge deal at the time. I just don't agree with paying .99 cents or now $1.29 for a song. It's a 3:00 minute song, songs are supposed to be for enjoyment to the listener and buyer. Most people don't even think twice. The author is trying to prove the advancement of technology and how he feels it is unsettling, in my opinion. Ethos is probably the best answer for rhetorical appeal in the article. 

[mnelson]

Kayla, I agree with you on your response. You made a lot of valid points that I agree with!
On Saturday, February 9, 2013 4:22:51 PM UTC-5, kparys wrote:

In my life I have "stolen" music, but have done it legally of course. Many people use YouTube to search for a new video or song, free of charge. YouTube has been used for many years as a place for personal, and sometimes even funny and comical film. Although in today's age, has been a place for full length famous films and hip new music videos. Technology today has shaped children the way that they are, whether that is for the good or for the bad. Technology allows unlimited sharing of music and constant opportunities to “steal” music. File sharing has become a major problem for companies such as apple, and Microsoft. These companies consider this act worthy of trial, but the public sees file sharing as a use of resources.  I think that file sharing should be allowed, and that YouTube should be a resource for free and unlimited music. If a school for example wants to set up a local area sharing network, they should be allowed to continue with free file sharing. Major companies might be losing profits, yes, but aren’t they developed to HELP the public? And aren’t these companies designed to benefit the user? In today’s market, prices are shooting through the roof on songs and music videos. These were created for enjoyment, not to burn a hole in your pocket or cause financial stress. Music has been shown to calm the mind, and allow escape from life’s daily struggles and worries of what tomorrow will bring. I think that file sharing should be allowed for one reason, the ability for Americans to just sit back, relax, and listen to a few free tunes with their family and friends.

The appeals that stood out to me in this article was the use of the rhetorical appeal ethos. The thought that many have is that file sharing should be legal, and that songs are extremely over priced. I have the same opinion, songs should be a way of enjoyment and not a financial stress. I think that this article was written well, and that G. Anthony made his thoughts clear throughout the article. I strongly agree with him, and that songs should be allowed to be shared with family and friends for relaxation. Although I agree with file sharing, I do not agree with users selling the product and misusing this new technology. If music corporations want this "stealing" to end, they must find a way to compromise with the American public and significantly lower their prices.

[tpatten]

As far as I know, I haven't stolen anything illegally. Lots of people use websites like youtube to find the song or video they want without paying. Even though downloading music illegally is free, its not fair to the people who recorded the songs and the sites that sell it for a living. I agree with Kayla when she said that technology has really shaped today's generations.  Also, no one ever thinks about the consequences of stealing before they steal. No remorse either.