(31) A Burning Issue

I tap my index finger impatiently on the smooth surface of my desk, the tiny glint of the pink polish on my thumb reflecting the light off the computer screen in front of me. Glancing at the middle window, I find to my dismay that a whole three minutes and forty-five seconds is left until this particular mix is completed. Sighing I grab another handful of peanut m and ms and glance back at my friends. Charlotte and Charissa are stretched out across the floor, poking through my pile of old Teen and Seventeen magazines trying to find pictures of Britney Spears so that they can accessorize her with goatees and mustaches while Patsy is trying desperately to find a good radio station in the corner. Britney of course is sprawled out on my bed, shouting phrazes into the phone reciever on her ear, while also attempting to give herself a pedicure. The bottle of cranberry mist is balanced on one knee while she tries to coat each toe nail between cotton balls meticulously, making several near misses so that it almosts drips on my bed spread. It’s a regular lady’s night out.

“So do u think he found his name yet in your article?” Charissa mumbles, not looking up from the pig she’s creating that used to resemble Justin Timberlake’s girl friend.

“Doubt it.” I reply stacking some books neatly on my bookshelf. “He probably hasn’t even read it yet.” I shove Gone With the Wind next to a collection of Robert Frost poems and then toss a few more magazines onto the carpet. I look back over at Britney just as a glob of polish falls onto one of my white pillows. “BRITNEY! Watch what you’re doing!” I shout over her conversation with my phone. She doesn’t even look at me as she continues to talk.

“All right…oh me too….okay I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She tosses the phone back onto the hook. “OH my gosh. You wouldn’t BELIEVE what I just heard!” Britney shouts as she twists the cap of the nail polish tightly, still keeping her toes apart from each other.

“What?” We all automatically ask.

“Andrew Fulton is banned from Sam Goody and is forced to do five hours of community service because he was caught trying to shop lift six CDs from their store last Saturday. Can you believe that? And that’s not even the first time he’s done that!”

“Why didn’t he take off the alarm stickers?” Charlotte utters.

“Where did he hide them?” Charissa adds.

“What CDs were they?” I ask with little enthusiasm.

“He wasn’t smart enough, in his backpack, and a collection of The Insane Clown Posse, Ja Rule, OutKast, Dream, and I think some German techno.”

“Weird.” I reply.

“Anyway….how stupid can a guy be? Who in their right mind spends their free time stealing music from the artists they are supposedly supportive of just so that they don’t have to dish out thirteen ninety-nine at some CD store in the mall?”

The room is silent for a few moments. “Daria?” Charissa looks at me and then the whole room is filled with laughter. Britney is heaving so much that her once-perfect toe nails are now smeared from the carpet. I on the other hand don’t find the whole thing so amusing.

“Stop it you guys. That so isn’t true.” Just then my computer dings loudly and a freshly burnt CD slides out of the compartment. My friends start to laugh even harder as I compare myself to Andrew Fulton in my head. It is true that ever since the court ruling against Napster I have been devoting all my time in finding and downloading all the music I’ve ever heard and liked in anticipation of when Napster will be shutting down, but am I stealing it?

“You know, it really doesn’t matter about this whole Napster thing.” Patsy manages to explain after catching her breath. “If Sean Fanning’s new creation dies, there are so many other new sites opening up like Gnutella and iMESH that will replace it. Record companies along with Metallica and Dr. Dre are just going to get over it.”

“But Napster is denying certain artists’ money that they deserve from the records they’re making. Certain users like Daria are only downloading music and creating whole CDs instead of buying them normally. Even if well known artists don’t necessarily need that money, there are thousands of independent artists trying to get noticed that could be number one on Napster but make no money in sales of their CDs.” Charissa explains.

“Well, stinks for them.” Britney laughs. “Millions of people are doing that everyday. Besides, Daria, you’re still making me a mix, right?”

I pull the new CD out of the computer, holding it in front of me so that a long rainbow crosses over my reflection. I look at my face carefully. Am I really as bad as a criminal? Andrew probably will have to pick up trash off the streets and sit outside while his buddies check out new music, should that be me also? Can I just continually disregard the law because it’s convenient and I won’t ever get caught or is a real person of integrity someone who chooses to follow basic principles such as not stealing even when they don’t have to? Is using Napster stealing in the first place? Is there any difference between taping songs off the radio, making bootleg copies of movies in the theaters, and just making mixes of songs for friends? All of these questions spin around in my mind as my friends begin to start talking on a different topic. I on the other hand cannot deny my conscience any longer, my friends have a point.

As I quit all applications and choose the shut down command from the start menu, I cannot make the decision myself of how I perceive downloading MP3s and making mixes. I will probably need to take some time to think about all of the components of the world wide argument. Maybe I do not know where I stand personally, but I do know that I am not entirely comfortable with handing out free mixes to all my friends from now on. As for Andrew Fulton, I guess I’ll ask him if he needs some help picking up garbage off the exit 10 on ramp.