I agree with you
nanook! These people don't seem to realise that all the 'underground' stuff they like was so much more available on AG. Maybe they do & that's why they're so pissed off! AG was unique in that it attracted all fans (particularly those of underground styles/artists looking for an easier alternative to IRC etc.) As it grew it attracted more mainstream fans, but as they matured so did their shares, thus perpetuating and increasing the availability of more underground music.
The only thing I couldn't stand about AG is the way you could fill your queue in minutes & get lost in a wasteland of 1000's of similar artist pages.
I'm one of those weird people who didn't even purchase CD's before p2p. In fact I didn't even listen to anything, as I was disgusted by all that mainstream crap being inserted into my middle-ear! Believe me, the RIAA would never have seen one cent of my money in any of my lifetimes!
And I'm not wasting bandwidth on their $hit either! AG opened my eyes to what I'd been missing out on, just because my tastes were too "out there" to attract the mainstream.
In short, the RIAA can
!