Anthony - Illegal downloading

There's so much talk today about downloading music illegaly on the internet, and I don't really know who is right and who is wrong. I can't say that I think downloading music for free should be illegal because I do it myself, but I do understand the musician's argument that when we download their music for free we are hurting them because selling their music is how they make their living. A lot of people just think that it is easy and free for the artists to make their music, but there are really a lot of costs involved in the recording and instruments/technology. But then again, some of these musicians are already so rich and famous that they are barely even affected by illegal downloading. Regardless, I think it is ridiculous that the government gives people these huge fines just for downloading music that they could have just burned off of someones CD anyway. I have heard of cases where the person just has to delete all of their illegal downloads, which to me is a much more reasonable punishment.