So a representative of the BPI on BBC Breakfast this morning summed up his argument for suing people who download music with [there are so many legal online alternatives that] there’s no excuse for downloading anymore.

Well, I hate to burst that little bubble but it’s not true. I have songs in my music collection which are not only unavailable at any legal online music service, but are also unavailable at any shop I’ve been into (and I’ve asked!).

So what am I supposed to do? When I’m hunting for that one track I heard on an advert, I look it up on commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk, do a search in the online sellers (it’s almost never there), and then fire up the music downloading app-du-jour and get it. My dodgy music taste aside, what are the alternatives

Just to go back again for a moment, this representative also said that 60% of all CDs retail for £10 or under. Well now. Whilst that might well be true for new albums, singles still cost a fiver. And are then completely unavailable two months after release. So what are you supposed to do? It leaves the consumer stuck betwen a rock and a hard place, and in the end they’re more likely to get that one song they want off of the web than fruitlessly hunt around in car boot sales for months.

I can understand the music industry’s frustration at this bandwagon that appears to have left without them and undercuts their entire business model, but by denying that there are any real reasons at all that someone might download music, they just perpetuate the image of being out of touch and only looking after their best interests and not their customers’; and for as long as that continues, people will see downloading as a completely viable alternative method of getting the music they want to hear.