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Pay for satellite radio, but don't tape it

Pay for satellite radio, but don't tape it

Molly Wood Former Executive Editor
Molly Wood was an executive editor at CNET, author of the Molly Rants blog, and host of the tech show, Always On. When she's not enraging fanboys of all stripes, she can be found offering tech opinions on CBS and elsewhere, and offering opinions on everything else to anyone who will listen.
Molly Wood
Remember when you used to put a microphone up to your boombox and tape the radio? Well, when it comes to digital and satellite radio, the RIAA . It was fair use when your song recording sounded totally crappy, but now that it might sound good enough to keep you from plunking down for the song on CD, it's soon to be verboten. That--even though, if it's satellite or digital radio, you actually pay a monthly subscription fee--one would think, just might satisfy the eternally ravenous baby-bird mouth that is the music licensing and royalty scheme. But apparently it doesn't. Man. Do you think the RIAA ever gets tired of coming off like the biggest buzz-killing, money-grubbing, Scrooge-like villain of all time?