Is Downloading Music Legal?

In the article it is saying that people have been downloading music illegally for quit sometime and the music industry is losing money from people downloading this music and not going out about buying CD's  A lot of the music downloading sites say that MP 3 is free and it is 100% legal, the thing is MP 3 is legal because it is a file, but downloading the music is not legal. It is considered legal for you to purchase a music CD and record it to MP 3 files for your own use. Uploading these files via peer-to-peer networks would break the law. A lot of people my age download music illegally.  I used to when I didn't have the money, but now I always go out and buy the CD I want, instead of downloading it.