I liked you exploring where piracy starts when someone shares music. Certainly in the context of a product which can be copied so easily and readily the term needs some definition.

    If you make a copy of a song you haven't already purchased, the owner has lost the possibility that you might have paid for it.


Dan's phrasing is beautifully exact. But is it piracy? If the owner had no expectation that the song was supposed to be paid for if copied that way, then I say no. Music is sometimes distributed as a "teaser" track for general distribution, copying permitted. Hopefully you'll like it so much you'll buy the album!

Wade.