Hey,
That's not such a big deal, anyone can make Akai format samples and post them on the net. It becomes a big deal if someone bought a commercial sample cd and posted the files on the net, that's piracy.
As for synths and samplers, there is a fine line to be drawn here between the two. Something like a Triton has preloaded samples permanently stored in ROM chips, technically this is no different than a 'real' sampler which uses RAM to temporarily store the sounds that the user loads.
One could debate that a device like a Triton or a sampler is a synth because it is capable of recreating acoustic and electric sounds, plus sounds not found in nature like old analogue synths.
These devices contain most, if not all, the components found in analogue synths like oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFO's, amps, and the ability to connect different modules together...the maindifference between the two is that older synths use analogue circuitry to do the job, newer synths use digital chips to do the job.
So, in my humble opinion, the big difference between a synth and a sampler is this : a synth has all the sounds already in it, a sampler doesn't. There are of course devices which cross this line, such as the Motif and Triton which have prestored sounds AND the ability to import new ones, but that's just semantics.
Take care,
Nick