Not true, unfortunately. Many "legally" downloadable songs have restrictions on their use -- how many copies you can make, how many devices you can put the song on, etc. It's a software license model designed to prevent piracy, and we all KNOW how little software piracy there is! Legal rights regarding physical media to make a copy for your own use do not apply, and there really aren't laws and regulations covering this sort of stuff, which is why every legal case seems to have a different outcome.

On the other hand, I haven't met an artist yet that cared how many MP3 devices or computers you burn a song to for your own enjoyment, provided you don't sell it or give it away.

I'd love to see out of print and older material available with these services, too. I think it will come. The services are just trying to make deals with the big companies at the moment to have a good sized catalog available to users while they get a profit going. Anything that isn't likely to pay it's own way isn't going to happen for some time yet -- but I think it WILL happen.

But the overwhelming majority of music piracy is not audiophiles seeking an old recording or happen to have a hankering to listen to a tune while they are at the office and can't possibly WAIT until they get home and transfer it from their legal CD. It's downloads of the latest Dave Matthews or Britney Spears single.

The demographics of the users aren't the deadbeat college and teenage crowd everyone seems to assume. The practice is very high among working folks with disposable income -- which makes me think a lot of what is driving the file sharing scene is the homogenization of record stores. Sam Goody doesn't got it, but Kazaa does.

And the subscription music download services stink -- you gotta install special softare, pay a monthly fee, also pay for the music, and frequently you have to burn direct to CD instead of saving it to your computer and burning later when you have a CD's worth. Worse, they have hundreds of thousands of tunes in their 'catalog,' but most aren't available for download. I've subscribed to a couple, and they are mostly useless.

I think people will pay, will be glad to do it, and I think BuyMusic.com is going to make a fortune. Any lost revenues involved with these file sharing services are the fault of the RIAA dragging their feet and not getting with the program years ago. Like any product, when you can't get it legally, there will be a black market.

I can't wait until the day comes when I am driving down the road and hear a great tune on my satellite radio, and I push a button and it sends the song details to my home computer, where it gives me the option to download and buy the song... we're getting close. Right now I push a button and it tells me the title and artist.