I would like to refute the claims of Mike's Music owner Mike Negra, who reportedly attributed file sharing to the downfall of his business ("Panel discusses file sharing, copyright laws," April 15 article). For years, similar mom and pop spots have been run out of business when large chain stores move into town.

For Negra to jump on the anti-file-sharing bandwagon either proves his lack of business sense or shows how powerless he really feels about the State College market. Within the past three years, several major retailers have set up shop in State College, including Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target. All of these stores carry similar products to that of Mike's Music: unedited CDs (compared to the edited versions that WalMart carries). Because of the buying power and potential efficiency of large chain stores, procurement costs were likely higher for Mike's Music, forcing them to choose between higher prices or lower profit margin.

I hope that Negra has already realized this for himself and was just lashing out at file-sharing tools out of frustration. If he doesn't rethink his business model, he won't have file-sharing to use as a scapegoat if his electronics business starts to submit to the competitive pressures of major chain stores as well.