You're argument boils down to: if I can copy it without any cost, it has no value
You might believe this to be true, I don't. Here's why:
Someone invested time and/or money into creating the original, they charge for that investment. This is not new, when you buy a book or CD (or any product for that matter) you're not just paying for the costs of manufactering but the development costs as well. When you pay €20 for a book, that's not just covering print costs, you're paying the writers salary too. You're digital copy is free argument comes down to: You can only recoup these costs when packaged with a physical object. Talk about putting a damper on innovation.
So as value does not equal 'cost of the physical product', making an illegal copy is stealing. You're taking away an opportunity for someone to make a living for the time they invested.
Let's say I spend 6 months writing a book. Once it is released I sell one copy and that single copy is copied 1 million times. Result: 1 million people had a good read, I worked for nothing for 6 months and the bank is trying to evict me because I can't pay the morgage. Just plain wrong.
Now I'm not saying the present IP legislation is perfect, not at all. But work needs to be paid cause people need to eat. Simple as that
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Basically, a digital copy is not a theft, it is a copy. When I copy, the original work is still there, it is not stolen. That is the new paradigm which is so hard to accept.
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Bad argument as same can be said about stealing a CD: "Not really theft, original master recording is still there."
Again value isn't something restricted to physical goods. And thank god for that cause I'm willing to bet that most of us on this forum would be living under a bridge if it were.