Music Industry Self-Destructs in War with Consumers

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use - washingtonpost.com: "Sony (SNE) BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, testified that 'when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.' Copying a song you bought is 'a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' ' she said."

To me it is utterly absurd that the recording industry would equate ripping a CD that you buy with stealing.

I hope that the greed of the music industry continues to chip away at their entire business model until it collapses beneath their feet.

Personally I don't buy any digital music with DRM. I purchase CDs and then rip them into crystal clear DRM free mp3s. This way I can put them on my iPhone, on my wife's iPhone, listen to them on my Media Center PC or my XBox Extenders, or anywhere else I'd like.

And yes, every so often I'll even send one of these mp3s to a friend. Which I feel I'm perfectly within my fair use rights to do.

It's sad to see an industry go to war with consumers -- but the lobbyists lobbying for horrible sanctions for mp3s seem to have more clout and power in Washington than the millions of people who each year convert CDs into digital music.

Personally I'd like to see someone like Steve Jobs step up and use his clout to push an agenda in Washington that made it legal for you to rip CDs for personal use.

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