your right John,

I dont know, why should a painting or a song not be owned by the creator, or who ever the item was given or sold to?

what make a painting any different than a refrigerator?

here's a good one. how bout land? I drive down a road near the coast and I cant see the water anymore. I'd like to have a view of the water driving down the public road but there are too many houses built up.

The music and download thing is so freakin' complicated it is never-ending. But I gotta stay on this one; you buy a radio you have the right to tape thats my position on that.

So your last statement has put a very large chink in my copyright point of view. I have always believed that if you build something that was a commercial product of someone else. It would be OK if you did this for your own personal use.
Now you bring up Music download. When hundreds of thousands of people download a single song for their personal use... The RIAA pulls in the feds and sends kids to jail for it.

Its all stealing. What's your threshold of pain for getting caught?
Do I think kids should be fined for downloading music? not really. Most of the down-loaders of music are not going to buy the music anyway. but since they have it downloaded, they or a friend might just buy something later on.

letterbox beach front. sounds like a condo 20 miles long and 100 stories tall. inland people see a wall and condo people all have a letterbox view through a portal.

Music downloads. I have one example that just occured to me. If you put free food out for the homeless and a rich guy in a limo pulls up and takes it; is it stealing?
When the music is offered to the public on public airways it becomes public property. Not for you to take and perform and use to make money; but for your use as a consumer; and that includes taping for portability. I have to stand by that.