Downloading Legal vs Illegal Music

The RIAA is cracking down on peer-to-peer music sharing sites, and if you do use one, even if you pay a subscription fee you could find yourself in hot water.

Opinions differ on the use of peer-to-peer sites - some say that it is no different that sharing music among friends. Others view it as stealing and the federal government is in this camp.

Peer-to-peer file sharing sites in question include Kazaa, Grokster, Morpheus, Madster, eDonkey, Direct Connect, OpenNap, iMesh, and Gnutella.

These sites allow you to share music on your computer, and download music found on other's computers.

Sites such as Rhapsody, iTunes and MP3.com that require payment have fully legal downloads, from a centralized server.