The positives and negatives of technology's role in music was the last hot topic to be tackled in the RDS today.

Writer and director Maurice Linnane (who spent two years on U2's Zoo tour) started proceedings by quoting something Bono told him. "If everything failed on given night, the band still played. I'm not so sure that's still the case. I don't know if that's a good legacy or a bad legacy."

Our reliance on technology was a major issue for discussion, as were the ill effects of illegal downloading. "I just think that people who are downloading things for nothing are stealing, leave it at that," said Linnane.

Renowned producer and Gang Of Four member Andy Gill was a little more charitable. "When everybody can get it for free, it's inevitable that people will take it for free and you can hardly blame them as individuals. ISPs [internet service providers] need to made responsible for these issues - Ireland is at the forefront of that."

Gill also made the case for the more old-fashioned way of making music, in the same rudimentary fashion he did early in his career. "The music was all fairly basic. there were no reverbs, nothing as sophisticated as digital delay. There wasn't fancy effects that you could fall in love with and put over everything. You just concentrated on the song. If we had all the toys, I'm sure we would have played with them. But we would have lost something."

Composer Liam Bates was in agreement to an extent, emphasising how much greater our imaginations are in comparison to the technology available. "I come from the tradition of pencil and paper. I'm very conscious of stepping away from technology. That's a little bit of danger."

Bates was also quick to state how developments in technology have made the composition process easier and more affordable. "We have to embrace [technology]. And of course it's fantastic - it makes it very quick, it's wonderful."

Nick Kelly, who recently recorded a live album of nine Whelans shows over nine months, discussed how the technology helped that project come together. "It was much cheaper than it would have been. It's brilliant if you have the idea first - I'm very nervous where people start at the technology. I'm quite a Luddite like that."

He went on to talk about the new ways artists have to promote themselves, and the problems that arise from the digital revolution. "It's incredibly democratic - any feckin eejit can make a record - and they are! Social networking and how I make my brand different to the two million feckin eejits - that's really hard."

He spoke about the technology of brand-building and business - and the dangers of it. "Unfortunately, we're going to lose some poets. Because not all poets are fire jugglers and we're going to need our poets to be fire jugglers."

The final feeling, if there was one, was that technology has always been a part of our lives, for better or worse. "Technology and music," summed up Andy Gill. "You can't really divide them."