Despite recent lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America, a number of UW-Madison students said they have not altered their downloading habits.
Last Monday, the RIAA sued 261 people for sharing approximately 1,000 files each and proclaimed they would be specifically targeting college students in the future.
However, several UW-Madison students said they were not concerned about the threat of a lawsuit because they thought the amount of files they downloaded was not large enough to warrant attention from the RIAA.
Jennifer Sneden, a UW-Madison junior, said since she only downloads music once or twice about every other month, and is not worried about potential lawsuits.
Concern was also limited because the lawsuits focused mainly on file sharers and distributors, while numerous UW-Madison students downloaded only for personal use. Several UW-Madison students said they believed the RIAA is simply making an example of the most prolific sharers, who own shelves of CD's filled with pirated music.
\I'm not worried mainly because [lawsuit targets consist of] such a small percentage [of file sharers and downloaders],"" UW-Madison freshman Patrick Waring said.
Though Kazaa, the most popular download site on the Internet, is the main place for the RIAA to locate file sharers, few students said they had reservations about using it. One student, when asked if he downloaded files, simply pointed to his computer, which was in the process of downloading music.
However, some UW-Madison students said recording companies had a right to protect their interests and recent lawsuits were justified.
""I think they're legitimate because you're stealing songs and not paying for it,"" UW-Madison freshman Andrew Gordon said.
Despite such opinions, many UW-Madison students said they believe downloading music actually benefits the artist, as they download one or two songs as a test, and later go out and buy the album if they like what they hear.
""I usually buy the albums of the people who I download if I like them,"" Waring said. ""It's a good way to sample music.""
This is the first part of a two part story. The second installment will be in the Thursday edition of the The Daily Cardinal.
