No Ripping?

Have you "ripped" to your computer a music CD you purchased? Up til now, that hasn't been considered a problem by the recording industry. It was file sharing from that computer for which they were coming after people with heavy fines.

That seems to be changing. The RIAA is now attempting to say you can't rip a CD you've purchased—at all.

"In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings."

Read more here.