Or download it for FREE from ubuntu.com

For those who can't download due to a slow connection or no burner there are
lots of places that will sell you disks for a few dollars and Ubuntu will
send them to you free.
See www.distrowatch.com for some adds.

Ubuntu can be had free by download or mail from Canonical. This really
does amount to Spam imo.

I usually have disks to give away in my possession as well... very
localized mind you.

I disagree - for some people e.g. those with limited bandwidth it's
worth it to pay 4 bucks for a CD. Nobody's forcing you to pay, if you
have good bandwidth and want to download the iso yourself, that's great,
but not everybody's in the same boat. Linux CDs have been sold since the
early 1990s, because there is a demand, and I'm sure that will continue
to be the case.