More News on the RIAA lawsuit

Apparently the core of the case against Howell is plain old-fashioned downloading of music; the additional suggestion that downloading or ripping music for personal use is an add on, not the core of the case. This from Endadget.

While there's a pretty good argument for the legality of ripping under the market factor of fair use, it's never actually been ruled as such by a judge -- so paradoxically, the RIAA might be shooting itself in the foot here, because a judge wouldn't ever rule on it unless they argue that it's illegal. Looks like someone may end up being too clever for their own good, eh?

That's a positive way of looking at it.

My I-pod now has 1696 songs on it. All ripped from CDs I purchased.

There is this troubling quote from a member of Sony BMG's litigation team, as recorded by Digital Trends.

Earlier this year, Jammie Thomas was ordered to pay $220,000 in damages for songs she shared online; in that case, the head of Sony BMG's litigation team Jennifer Pariser testified she believed transferring your own CDs to a computer constituted theft. According to Pariser, transferring a song to a computer for personal use is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy.'"

So it's nice to know where the record companies heads are at.