[Shaun]

I have bought quite a lot of CDs and upload them to my computer for my iPod, blahblahblah. However - the file sizes for these songs are ridiculously large and occupy a worrying amount of space on said iPod.

Therefore, is really illegal to download a smaller file size of something that you've paid for, for convenience's sake?

I mean, technically, it probably is, put I've but this in serious debates rather than music because it's open to debate rather than questioning whether it is or isn't illegal

From one side it would be like buying a legit. DVD and then a pirate DVD - but this would be lining the piracy industry's pockets. However, with music downloads they're free and noone makes a profit. So nobody's really losing anything, and nobody's making money from criminal distribution, it just means I can put more stuff onto me gizmo. Yet I'd probably still get nicked?