So what do you do if you are accused of downloading music? You can contact an attorney but you must realize that if you are guilty of the charge, you may not get away with it!

The main thing that causes people to get charged with a crime involving illegal music downloads is because they have shared their music library through a downloading program's server such as Kazaa, Limewire, and so on. Many previously illegal music services have since legalized their services and offer music for pay, such as Napster (the original company that brought downloading to the forefront of the music industry).

But generally speaking people do not get charged for actually downloading the song. It is the providers of the illegal material that generally get charged. There can be exceptions to that, but that is usually the case.

Downloading music without paying for it is illegal because music like all art is considered the creator's intellectual property. That person came up with it and that is why he or she should be compensated if their work is used! Wouldn't you want to be?

If you or someone you know is illegally downloading music, consider a legal service such as Rhapsody, Napster, iTunes, and so on. These services can get you better quality copies of the songs without the risk of viruses and spyware proliferating into your computer from illegal downloads.

You may think that recording artists are all rich but many of them have not received a fair shake with their record labels and are only given a small percentage of the profits for their music. So when you pay for music, keep in mind that the entire dollar for the song is not all going to the artist. Often, it's only a few cents.