Although this is a practice that I try to avoid, I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with you, cpu.
Something else I have thought about is that when someone burns a CD, that aren't really ripping anyone off because:
1. They bought the computer, the electricity that powers it, and the CD-R
2. They have paid for the materials in full, and theoretically, can do whatever they like with them
3. Burning a copy of something or ripping a song is simply making a digital representation of the original product; it is not the original and should not be treated as such
Obviously, I have to pay to get into a concert, because I am hearing the band live and first-hand. But if I aquire some of their music without actually buying the CD, I am guilty of piracy, regardless of the music's quality. So even if I get a sample of a song as a 32k mp3, which sounds nothing like the original, I am punished the same as if I had stolen a physical compact disk containing that song from a store.
If I was to purchase all of the components necessary to build a Ferrari, and I built it by myself, there would be nothing illegal about that. Sure, I am making a product that is similar to one made by a well-known company, but I am the one who took the time to build it, and I paid for the parts, so it is mine.
So why then, is digital media treated as a totally different domain? Why is it that I can buy all of the components necessary to create an audio CD, and I can spend my time making it, but yet, it is considered stealing? Naturally, the only possible reason is ease of use.
It takes a lot of time and manpower to build a car, but it is becoming fairly easy these days to burn a CD. If duplicating a CD was as difficult as duplicating a car, no one would care. Basically, the government is penalizing progress. We have finally gotten to the point where we can use computers for what they were designed for: storing information and duplicating it. And now that it finally works well, the government has decided that it is bad, because it is just too easy.
Way to crap on achievement, government. Way to slow down progress, DRM and Trusted Computing.