Why are MP3s traded on the Internet?

Dear RIAA,

Yesterday, I purchased a fine product produced by one of your member companies, Green Day's new album, "American Idiot." I listened to it in the car on my way home, and I thought it sounded great. But I drive a 1993 Saturn wagon with stock speakers that have never been replaced, so I couldn't wait to get home and plug some good headphones into my laptop and give the disc a spin.

But since major labels are counterproductive to the latest technological advances, your "enhanced" CD will not play in Winamp. Unlike CDs released by independent record labels (which, by the way, are a hell of a lot cheaper) I have to rip Green Day's new album into MP3 format just to listen to it on my crummy old laptop, which is taking a long time to even rip the songs.

These these MP3s will now be on my drive forever, they are very likely to be traded over the Internet at a later date.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with paying for albums, and since Green Day's new release is an actual album that should be listened to in sequential order with the lyric sheet in hand, I'd much rather purchase the album then download it and find out this MP3 is only part of the song, this other one has no ending, I can't find these tracks, etc. I like listening to whole albums.

Unfortnately, there are a lot of new music fans out there who have no respect for the album format, probably because their favorite bands have never released an album, just 10-12 pieces of shit on a disc with one single that's, eh, OK. In the age of listening to music electronically, these fans might not have learned to respect Green Day's "American Idiot" enough to take it as a whole since their used to skipping tracks to hear what they like. They have never enjoyed purchasing a 12" record and listening to is as a whole. Indeed, many of these fans don't own a record player, and probably wouldn't know what a record was if you gave one to them. And when you force people like me to actually have to rip the album to MP3 just to listen to it, you're not only cheating yourselves and the band out of cash, but you're cheating thousands of newer music fans out of the chance to develop a deeper appreciation of the album format and, essentially, what a mature rock n' roll album should sound like.

In short, cut the shit and let me play the fucking CD on my fucking laptop without having to rip the fucking songs into MP3 format.

Sincerely,
tas

P.S. - Britney. Can't. Fucking. Sing.