I think even RIAA (reluctantly) agrees that recording your LP of CD on cassete to listen in your car is OK (as long as somebody else is not listening to the original LP at the same time - presumably one should coordinate listening timetables with one's spouse and kids :) It is quite logical that digitizing it into MP3 format should also be OK. If so, it should also be OK to obtain the said MP3 encoding by other means, as long as one has paid the royalty originally (as xavyer describes). However, using some perversion of logic lawyers are prone to invent, MP3.com is barred to provide exactly that service, i.e. providing the users with MP3 encodings of CDs they can prove they own. The argument mentions computers not being recording devices (implying, presumably, the comparative ease with which computer files are copied en masse as opposed to, say, audio cassettes - never mind the fact that MP3.com was streaming your copyrighted music, not offering downloads).

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that logic does not apply, corporate financial strenght does (which does not invalidate Doug's definition of the line). I would really like to be able to pay to authors directly, but that has also been discussed to death.

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green