I think I agree with David T -- the act of creating new music is a valuable service that people are willing to pay for, even retroactively in the form of donations (as Radiohead is proving). It's the bits that have no value.

As one of the previous posters mentioned (who paid on the website but then downloaded via a P2P network) creating music and distributing music are entirely different operations. The first one is valuable, the second one isn't.

-stolen from someone's response on the some the pho mailing list.

I keep forgetting this blog exists..

If I was going to tattoo something to myself, it would probably be a list of things to always remember, like:

7: Always make bad decisions.
8: Don't trust teenagers.
9: Wake up early. Shower. Dress.
10: If you have to hide all your easily stolen electronics and drugs before a girl comes over, it is a sign that the relationship doesn't have much of a future.