Far be it from me to defend the illegal copying of music or software (I'm a music publisher AND a computer programmer, so this issue affects me intimately). I just want to clarify some points.
First of all, I think we need to distinguish between two different crimes that we are mixing up:
A) Stealing a CD (physically or through burning/downloading a copy)
B) Piracy (stealing intellectual property, and re-distributing it)
If someone stole one of my Chant CDs, and I had the best lawyer in the world in my back pocket, I would go after them for: $12.99. Why? Because if they paid $12.99 in the first place, they would not only be blameless in my eyes, but a good customer!
$12.99 can't be the difference between a virtuous act and a Mortal sin. It simply isn't that much money.
Anyhow, if the same person stole a CD (or even PURCHASED IT from me for $12.99) and proceeded to re-sell it, THEN they would be liable for the whole value of the intellectual property, since they would be stealing my very livelihood. That would be piracy, not petty theft.
Burning a CD has to be a weaker sin than stealing a nice shrunk-wrapped copy off the shelf at Best Buy. There is less scandal, the final product isn't as nice -- it's worth much less, doesn't have a color insert, etc.
I also disagree with your theory that when someone steals a CD, they become part of a "larger crime" of stealing X number of CDs total -- which defraud the artist of serious money (from loss of fame, revenue, concert revenue, etc.) Perhaps the aggregate big picture IS just that -- but how can 600,000 people "share" a mortal sin? Whose soul does it go on? Let's face it -- most people illegally burn a CD so they can put it in their CD player and listen to it -- not so Britney Spears can waste away on the street in abject poverty. Most people don't have that deep a grasp on the "big picture".
Many sins would be more grave if we humans could see clearly the consequences they would bring about. But most people (myself included) have a hard time seeing that copying a single CD for personal use will lead to severe poverty for the artist involved. The illegal CD copier really DOES think, "It's only a single CD. It's not going to kill them."
If I spend 9 months on a game and release it free on the Internet, it is worth 0.00. If I had spent the same 9 months working on an accounting package worth $199 each, then that's what my work would be worth. I might be able to write esoteric software (for example, live auction management software) in a week's time that is worth $2000 a copy -- I could charge that if that's what the market would bear. And that's what the software would be worth per copy. If someone stole a copy, they would be liable for $2,000 -- even if it only cost me 40 hours to write the whole thing and I'd already sold 20 copies. So I think the total production cost is irrelevant unless it's a case of actual piracy (theft of intellectual property = re-selling an artist's work giving them nothing in return)
As far as I know, that $250,000 penalty has never been levied against a shoplifter stealing a CD from the shelves. It's only for those who make songs or CDs available for download, or those who produce and sell a stolen CD.
Sincerely,
Matthew