He may have purchased the CDs and downloaded them to his computer but more than liekly he is also sharing them and THAT is why it would be illegal. I have a stand alone usb2 hard drive with all my music files on it. I purchased the greatest majority of them, probably 85%, and still have the cds to prove it. I NEVER share the info on this drive and its only plugged in when I am listening to the music.

Every DJ in America does the same thing instead of carry 4000 Cds with them and sort through them.

It is this greedy behavior by the music industry which fosters piracy in the first place. I have no problem with them selling DRM downloads, subscriptions, or trying to stop file sharing (and not simply because they're all easy to circumvent). But this is absolutely ridiculous and shortsighted, a guaranteed way to finally kill the sales of albums/cds altogether.

The history of the recording industry is one of idiocy and greed. Back in the days of 78rpm records the labels often included a message that the recording was "not for radio broadcast." Guess what happened? They sold fewer records because people weren't hearing them, so they wised up. The only reason we have downloads for purchase is because the industry kept its head in the sand and refused to acknowledge the growing trend and dissatisfaction with cd costs. Why pay $15-20 for a cd that has only 1-2 good songs? Unfortunately that too has been a longstanding problem whether it be LPs or cds. Take a look at any record bin and you'll find dozens, if not hundreds, of crappy, crappy albums that had just one or two songs worth listening to. Yet the sales prices at the orginal time of sale kept rising. Wasn't it Tom Petty that once tried fighting it by suggesting that people not pay more than $9 or something for one of his LPs? The nature of the industry is to find the one hit that will drive album sales, hopefully a second tune to boost sales once the first tune has run its course, and then complete the album with filler and fluff. It's been that way since the first albums and hasn't changed one iota. As long as people buy albums/cds, then artists will not feel the incentive to produce better music. It's all about mass consumption, not artistry anyways.

When cassettes came out there was a concern about bootlegging then too, but the concern wasn't as strong since the duplication quality always suffered. With digital that isn't the case, and there's no way to effectively police the sharing/duplication of digital files because it's only a short matter of time before someone cracks any security coding and offers the software online to the world. I've got a software now that will eliminate the DRM from any download so I can play the songs on other devices. I could share them in several methods if I so choose. There's just no ability to manage intent, and that is where these lawsuits may fail since the people bought the cds.

I say let the RIAA try to come after people because it will come back to bite them in the ass. I rarely buy cds now, but the ones I do are all on my computer so I can listen on my mp3 player. Not only that, but I set up a low-frequency radio station from my computer that lets me listen to any audio from my computer over the radio. If my neighbors wanted to listen, they could - and the record company isn't going to get a single royalty from it either.

Copyright protection on the CDs is a pain in the ass, too, because some people's computers have gotten fucked up because they tried to download songs off the CD. It's almost like work own a CD.

The music industry also needs to put out bands and artists that are worth listening to. As Foamy the squirrel once said: "No one is gonna buy music from bands that suck!"

Well, I am lucky I don't have to worry about this.  I haven't purchased a CD in a long time.  The last one was a Weird "Al" CD Straight out of Lynnwood.  His CDs are the only ones I will purchase because I usually like all or most of the songs on there.  Most of my music is either DL (public domain items such as classical) or purchased as mp3s for my iPod.  Most cars are capable of playing mp3s now, plus I have a FM transmitter for my iPod.  CDs are becoming obsolete quickly, and the RIAA knows it.  They should be investing their time into future technology instead of trying to keep existing tech around.