Unlike many in her circle of music-loving pals, 17-year-old Danielle Lew of Playa del Rey does not download songs from an Internet file-sharing network.
But Lew doesn't buy CDs either -- she uses the CD recorder in her computer to burn copies of other people's discs. That makes her Public Enemy No. 2 on the recording industry's list, a notch below people who copy music on Kazaa and other file-sharing systems.
The industry lashed out Monday against file sharers, filing 261 lawsuits seeking at least $200 million in damages for copyright infringement. But as Lew illustrates, other digital technologies are transforming the way people obtain and enjoy music, posing another threat to the CD sales that are the major record labels' lifeblood.
The labels are responding not only by filing lawsuits but also by offering their songs through online music stores and subscription services, by lowering CD prices and by deploying anti-copying technology. That includes reinventing the CD itself, aiming to deter piracy by putting an electronic leash on its contents.
Some critics say the major record companies are trying to slow the online music revolution when they should be capitalizing on it by taking the music business to the masses. That means allowing the copying of an unlimited number of songs for a reasonable monthly fee that would encourage people to be paying customers, instead of pirates.
"We have to get to the place where we can collect the money, but we can't control the business," music publisher Jim Griffin of Cherry Lane Digital said at a recent industry conference.
Label executives offer a slew of reasons not to go that route. For one thing, they say, file sharers never would accept a monthly fee high enough to pay for all the music, movies and games they download. Record companies have begun talking to the file-sharing companies about offering services that pay royalties to artists, but in the meantime the industry is escalating the technological arms race against unauthorized copying.
The record companies characterize the battle as a fight to stop theft. It's also an effort to regain control over what people can do with the music they buy.
The industry lost much of that control when it embraced the compact disc format 20 years ago. Unlike vinyl records or tapes, CDs can be duplicated with no loss in fidelity. Songs on CD also can be extracted by a computer and squeezed into files small enough to be e-mailed or downloaded through the Internet, for listeners willing to sacrifice a little sound quality.
