Buying Used CDs and illegal downloading

I was looking for used CDs the other day and I started to think about illegal downloading.
I am sure the answer is so obvious, and I am just having a brainfart, but how is downloading and album for free worse than buying a used CD?
Sure the company that is selling used CDs is making a tiny profit, but none of this money goes to the labels nor the artist.
What am I missing?

That was the point that I brought up in my David Lowry response. Same goes for recording albums you check out of the library. 20 years ago Garth Brooks did, in fact, try to stop used record sales. More recently, a member of The Sweet has gone after a guy in Austria who was selling a used Sweet cd for one euro! Life imitates Le Miserable...

I totally missed that. Maybe I zeroed in on your other comments. Very good post. My mistake.

We're talking about the Right of First Sale. This has come up quite a bit lately with regards to ReDigi:

[arstechnica.com]

Here's what the Justice Dept. has to say:

[www.justice.gov]

BTW, if you haven't read the blog post that prompted Lowery's reply, it's here:

[www.npr.org]

After reading Ms. White's piece, I must admit to feeling like a misanthropic old man...



Post Edited (06-19-12 14:56)

From the ArsTechnica article:

> "While ReDigi touts its service as the equivalent of a used record store, that analogy is
> inapplicable," the suit contends. "Used record stores do not make copies to fill their
> shelves...."

I've been in at least one used record store that did just that. Granted, they copied only of out-of-print CDs. That's how I got a copy of Lucinda Williams' self-titled album on Rough Trade.