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I download to preview things. If I really enjoy/respect a band and a record, I'll buy it... either via iTunes or, more commonly, directly/through a distro/label (just as long as they're not ripping me off, ahem Mexican Summer). Direct is the best way, and usually the cheapest. But many things I get into these days are much older and out-of-print, and I don't have the budget to shell out hundreds of dollars for rare records on eBay, so it's easier to download. And in some of the cases, purchase of those records wouldn't result in royalties paid to the artists due to corrupt record company practices, or an artist's indebtedness to a company because of advances that were never recouped.
I think it's impossible to stop the sea from coming forward. It's like the weather, you can't do much to stop it. Excessive litigiousness on the part of the big content industries and labels hasn't worked. But I do think that downloading can fuck smaller labels very easily. Indie-torrents, I think that's what it's called, is probably more of a pernicious influence than many would like to admit. It's far easier to break the backs of smaller companies with filesharing. I also think that mp3 blogs can make certain listeners lazy and uncritical. I have found so much cool shit through blogs, but there's such an inundation of content that it's very easy to overlook or dismiss something merely because you have a low-quality file, and the nature of the mp3 doesn't compel you to SIT THROUGH a song like a record on a turntable does. Songs need to make instant impressions or they go ignored.
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