I’ve read several pages of this thread but I had to give up…
I have a few things to say.
- Clearly it’s illegal. Haven’t you guys ever been to a movie theatre? haha. Or read the inserts in your CDs? Or have you bought a CD before?

- What is the motivation here? To have something without giving something in return… You want to watch that movie but you don’t want to pay. You want to listen to that music but you don’t want to pay… kind of not the best motivation if you ask me. Save your money, buy the thing you want to enjoy and you won’t have to wonder if it’s right or wrong.
This electronic age really musses things up and creates grey areas where there should be none. It should be black and white… and really it is when you look at it with your head tilted the right way.
Is file sharing a sin? Not if you’re sharing non-copyrighted material. But sharing copyrighted material is stealing and therefore it is a sin.
Someone, earlier, used the example of watching a movie at a friend’s house… your friend legally paid for that movie and when the movie is over you go home without a copy. Nothing wrong with that. When you download a movie who paid for it? Where is the physical copy of it? You don’t know because the person you’re downloading from isn’t ‘your friend’ (most likely) - it’s some nameless stranger on the internet who is distributing this file to thousands of ‘friends’. Think about that a little… it’s a totally different situation and not comparable at all. My theory? If you can’t see the physical copy you shouldn’t be watching OR listening to it. Approaching things that way should remove any ambiguity.
I used to struggle with this issue myself (a lot). I spent time in prayer, did research and finally realized that it IS illegal and it is immoral and I promptly deleted any illegally downloaded material I had then got myself right into confession.
Funny thing, my priest agreed that it was sinful as well. I’ll trust my priest thanks.
I think when people have gotten used to instant gratification and having what they want when they want it, it’s hard to hear; no. Save your money. Wait.
It’s even worse when people get used to having things for free that really they should have been paying for in the start. That’s a really hard lifestyle to give up.
I wish you all the best of luck. Most likely those who are for stealing will continue to be for it and those who aren’t will continue to be against and never the twain shall meet but who knows… The Holy Spirit moves and we all fall to our knees, music and movies blown away in the face of our Maker.