i got in a huge argument with a friend of mine about this. his attitude is that he's being counter-cultural or something by ripping music. i told him that when he downloads mp3s of electronic artists, he's not fighting some corporate evil, but attacking the feeble economy of dance music, and making it harder and harder for this whole thing to work.

but there is one other ethical point to make...

is this ethically different from using pirated software? if so, why?