RIAA to stop being mr suepants

[History_Buff]

It's illegal to redistribute it without the permission of the copyright holder, yes. Whether or not it's actually illegal to download is a bit of a grey area. I certainly wouldn't take the RIIA's word for it, thought, considering that they grumble when people rip cds to their computer. They're out for profit, after all, not justice.

Indeed. Here in Canada, at least for now, the legal consensus seems to be you can download whatever you want, without fear of legal retribution. It is the uploading that will get you in trouble, because that constitutes redistribution.