They're coming to take your music away, ha ha!

Those whizkids at the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have done it again. A story in the Washington Post reveals they are now going after users who have mp3s on their hard drives. Mp3s from those CDs they legally bought.
You think I'm kidding?

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

So all that money you paid for those CDs you bought to avoid downloading music is for naught. The RIAA isn't satisfied, anyway. You can't transfer the files to your hard drive, then to your iPod without running aground of the RIAA.
Music fans are, not surprisingly, angry.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation, a group that has defended several of those accused of file sharing, has yet to post a reaction to this story. But they do have a petition against the RIAA.
Personally, we see this akin to the old Betamax ruling. There are so many users with iPods now that the industry couldn't put a kibosh on this practice. That and the fact that record stores are the dinosaurs of modern times. (Latest evidence: the huge Virgin Records store on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles is closing.)
Obviously, the RIAA knows the ship is sinking and is trying to make as much money as they can for their clients. But you need to keep the customers satisfied enough to where they'll at least come back, not piss them off forever.
And that's exactly what this ill-advised tactic will lead to.