All the more reason why long-time fans should not purchase any Metallica records. Does Metallica not realize that their grassroots support from the early 80s grew in large part by cassette tape sharing?

All the more reason why long-time fans should no longer purchase any Metallica records. Does Metallica not realize that their grassroots support from the early 80s grew in large part by cassette tape sharing?

I agree with Zaldor's comment - two wrongs certainly don't make a right, and they just muddy the waters of the situation by doing somethign like this. It is funny, though.

I ride the fence on this issue . . . in their defense, Metallica doesn't have any problem with sharing the live shows fans have always shared. What they have a problem with is the untended access to music they spent time and money recording themselves. It's their music, and they have every right to defend it. I don't have a problem with that, and no one should. That said, there are a great many bands I would not have checked out were it not for mp3s. Hell, I wouldn't have bought St. Anger if I hadn't heard the mp3s. But the point is I bought it after I heard them and decided I liked them. If everyone else did the same, there wouldn't be a problem at all, would there?

I hope the people who own John Denver's songs copyright sue Metallica.

Also, it seems the Madonna issue comes up again (in the news article from AP.)

I didn't like that I was listening to a legitimate licensed source for Madonna's album (MTV's The Leak) and she still wanted to know "What the F*** are you doing?"

I didn't mind the "You are listening to my new album..." overdub at the beginning but when an artist insults me or does something like Metallica is doing, I just don't need to spend my $ on their albums, concerts or other stuff.

In this case, Metallica is actually doing their fans a service. John Denver was a considerably more accomplished songwriter than they.