[TeleConvert]

yes, it seems that they are getting a little heavy-handed, but I have to wonder if they'll go so far as to say that you can't rip your CDs to the hard drive anymore. It has always been allowable to make a copy of something to, for example, play it in your car. I tend to back things up so I can carry around copies rather than risk my precious originals.

BTW, I asked at a used CD store in New Orleans about royalties, and they said that they have to record every sale and pay some kind of royalty (possibly like the blanket royalty that bars pay to allow cover bands). Every time I went there, they did write the album title and artist into a ledger. I am not so naive as to believe that everyone is so scrupulous, though. Just some thoughts...