43 folders aimed me at a beautiful confessional of music theft. The author is a die hard music fan and former staunch enemy of illegal downloading who has resorted, irregularly and rarely, to stealing music for a variety of reasons. The essay is a catalog of all the music the author has stolen and why.

“In a single year, not too long ago, I bought 1000 CDs, and most of them were yours. I continue to pay still. I bought two CDs this week, and will almost certainly buy more than 100 over the course of this calendar year … But I have also now started stealing your music. I haven’t stolen much, but I’m sure you will agree that the moral issue is not merely one of quantity. … I still buy, but now I also steal. You have forfeited your right to my loyalty. … I’m going to tell you exactly what I have stolen from you, and why…” (read the whole essay…)

My favorite quote:

If, with the resources of an entire industry of full-time workers and decades of catalogs and data and precedent, you serve music listeners less well than listeners and their hacked-together tech kludges serve each other, then you are defeated by your own market forces, and by your own market.

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