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Technically if you download an MP3 from a file sharing site on the Internet, this is copyright infringement. If however, I take my laptop to some third-world country, connect up to the Internet and do the same thing, I am not likely to be violating any laws in that country; so does that mean it's OK to do that just because it's not against the law at that point in time at that place? Yet, if I tape a song from the radio, that is legal. So do morals come from laws on the books or somewhere else? But regardless, most everyone I know doesn't see this as an issue. If you want it, you just downloaded and be done with it.
My point to all this is that this can get complex or simple depending on how you look at it. I don't see a substantial difference between taping music off the air or downloading off the Internet. The results appear the same. The only difference is that one is legal and the other is not.