You also have to take into account that music you download is never CD quality. It's always around 192kbps. Not many people can tell the difference(I can) but thats besides my point.
The um... legal thingo, dunno what ya call it -_-'(bleh) states that even if you buy a CD/DVD, you don't own the content, you only own the medium... so get this, we're paying $30 for something that costs 50?, and we don't own whats on it. The contect is owned only by the copyright holder. We only own the rights to make use of the content in whatever way it was intended to be used. If you payed good money for a pay per view event, you only own the right to see that paper per view, at that time, only. Even though you payed money, your not allowed to own it in any other way. Say your TV blew up because you spilled orange juice on it. It's actually illigal to get your friend, who has also payed for it, to tape it for you and get you to watch it later, or download a copy of the internet. What you actually bought with that money is the right to watch it only. Buying a music CD gives you the right to listen to it, not manipulate it.
So when you really take into account those laws, you'll be like wtf^? Your not allowed to rip a DVD and make a music video out of it. Your not allowed to rip a song and create your own remix. But don't we see that everywhere, everyday, all the time? I think we do. My point is that piracy is not a big issue, it never was. The RIAA just can't accept the fact that this stuff happens in our day and age. It's allways been happening! It was only just recently they decided to take action and make it sound like "Oh no we're so broke now".
ALSO! wasn't it recenty declared by some judge(for USA only) that you was allowed to download music, but not allowed to share it? I heard it was. I dunno why RIAA is still suing people. Actually they havn't, it's some European music industry that sued, I think 200(around) people. That was the most recent. Meh ~ I'l shut up.....