You might recall this classic line from The Simpsons. After learning about the existence of wheelchairs, Homer moans something like, “and all this time I’ve been walking by using my legs — like a sucker!”

I just had a similar feeling while thinking about MP3s. There is a particular album I’ve been meaning to get for several years. And what’s stopping me isn’t really the cost; it’s that sense that I would be purchasing something that I could get for free, and more importantly, other people have gotten for free. For me to pay into the system — when others have not — marks me as a dupe. And I think that sensation, perhaps more than anything else, is what’s killed the music business. It’s not that people can’t afford $.99 a song, it’s that they hate to pay it, knowing that others have not.