Because I feel its stealing to download it for free. If I'm not sure about the song or unfamiliar with the artist I usually find it on YouTube first to decide it I like it/them before buying it. Also tend to find free download sites are full of viruses so that puts me off (that's the cost of free downloads).

Only album I've downloaded for free was off the artist's own site.

Ugh. Why do I? Because people deserve the money. Do you know how much you have to pay to get all the equipment needed for average quality and live shows? If you only know artists who can swim in their money, well, bad for you. That music mostly sucks anyways and is way below mediocre. It's the same with games btw. The real amazing ones that don't simply follow the pop route don't sell much but the "few" fans make all the work worth it and artists/developers can go on.

I tend to download albums first then if I really like it, buy the vinyl for it.

I've bought some albums and vinyls... like five of them. Most artists I listen anyways are either very rich and can all but make up for it with shows and the merchandise and the other half is hipster guys who actually have another job and do music because they like it and want to be listen, not because of money. So meh.

But I see your problem right there. Both the music and the book industry survived internet fast enough to manage to download their stuff in one second. Movies... well, they actually release in the theaters so they can also make easy money, but games doesn't. And that's where it stings for most of you isn't it. Your favorite entertainment could be phased out or diminished considerably because few people give a damn to pay for it.

well I haven't really listened to modern music (actually from about the time Britney Spears come on the scene) so I don't buy it cause I don't listen to it.

What I do buy is a monthly subscription to Spotify, has millions of songs you can stream to your PC or smart phone. This is a cheap way to support the music industry i think.

I buy cd's of the artists I really like cos I still like collecting cd's...but I do d/load stuff without paying if it's just something I'm curious about but uncertain if it's worth risking the money...not really into top 40 music so I feel bad about not paying for the music I like...stuff I d/load is usually the stuff I wouldn't have bought anyway...no diferent to burning cd's or even taping an album (if anyone here is old enough to remember doing that?).
I also d/load a lot of shows from the us (I live in autralia, and a lot of these shows are on cable in the us) but in most cases, if I like the show I'll buy it when a boxset comes out (like 'walking dead' or 'Breaking Bad')...
is that ok?

only people who think that crap like lady gaga is music will ask such stupid questions.

The answer is pretty simple:There are some good things out there,good movies,good music and good food,really worth buying to support those people and make it possible for them to keep up with their work.
Some "idiots" have always to pay for the rest and if only few pay the system will get in real trouble,just like PC games a few years ago(why pay for EA games?they have so much money!)=.High end machines but almost no high quality games
and the sales are still bad but thanks to to the "stupid" ps360 guys who pay for the games,they are ported to PC because a port is cheap.
The same may happen to the music(well,most of the bestselling music is bullsh!t and is just following the same primitive pattern(just like most bestselling shooters) but there are always some good things worth paying for them even if you don't need to.

There is a reason why people are ready to pay 5000+dolllars for a good music system,but those people know what music is.
People who are not able to listen to music,who just need some noise,because they don't like silence,will never realize what I mean.
You have to be aware of what you are doing(even if it is domething simple like listening to music),than you will be able to appreciate those things and only than you will be able to understand why people will pay for them.
It's almost just the same like charity:people give because they respect something and care about the life of other people.That's why they donate .Violent people who don't respect live don't do so and when they do so than just because of good PR.

This would be an accurate comparison if all you were "stealing" was a virtual copy of said necklace acquired from other people with the same virtual copy.

That's why they call it file sharing, not file stealing.

I buy the music i love listening to, and because i love it i want to own it. Also, i listen to indie and alternative artists who deserve my support and shit, mainstream music is mostly shit.

Because its not 15 GB to download a song and theres no misery dealing with whether it's even going to work and if you do get it to work there's still a chance it'll stop working in the future. Not to mention if your trying to get a console version of the game you'll have to modify your system some how.

To download a song you just have to go to a website, search song, 2 seconds to download it, listen and enjoy for as long as you want.

If games were that easy the gaming industry would be screwed but it takes quite a bit of dedication to actually play an illegally downloaded game, enough dedication that most people find it easier to just buy the game.