is file-sharing illegal?

You can download ANYTHING from ANYBODY and it's perfectly LEGAL to do so. However, it IS ILLEGAL to ALLOW someone to UPLOAD copywrited material from your computer. That's why you never see the FBI arrest someone who downloaded a bunch of songs. It's always someone who 'allowed' others to get songs/movies from them... You can turn sharing off on almost all p2p software programs, which enables you to download but not share your files with others... Some people will block you for not sharing though.... Peace :-)

If the music is non-commerical, it's legal. Sharing anything that has copyright is illegal.

No pricey record percentage isnt..........The content fabric of record make it unlawful.... its no longer unlawful to percentage %. of your relatives and pal. yet percentage a copyright version of Win XP. is illegitimate.

Just imagine sharing a file, that you downloaded legally for 99cents from sites such as iTunes, Rhapsody, mp3.com, etc.., to the hundreds if not millions of online people out there for free file-sharing. Then for sure you'll know that there will be aggrieved parties out there that will sue you in court for the damages to their businesses due to illegal use of their properties.

For sites illegally distributing the properties of others via downloads, well --- what more can I say? That's already contraband.

only if you get caught ...