It seems everyone is taking the computer industry to court these days. Apart from the Microsoft battle against the government, the main legal disputes centre around the entertainment industry.

The record industry has had an ongoing suit against Napster and MP3.com. And the latest: Movie studies have filed suit against RecordTV.com for what they say is the illegal use of copyrighted television shows. RecordTV.com allows users to record and replay television shows online. While I will probably not want to download and watch the latest TV sitcom using the Internet I'm a user of Napster and MP3.com.

I also listen to a wide variety of radio stations over the Internet while I'm surfing or working. Right now I'm listening to an all reggae channel on NetRadio.com. It's clear as a bell and the music is exactly what I feel like listening to on a Sunday morning. Radio over the Internet is convenient and many sites offer a great range of channels.

But what has caused a great debate among musicians, record companies, Internet entrepreneurs and music fans are sites like Napster that allow users to exchange music files, usually in the form of MP3, occasionally as a wave (wav) file .

The MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) standard is a format for compressing sound into a file about one-twelfth the size of the original while keeping sound quality when played. MP3s can be played using the Windows Media player, RealPlayer, Winamp, and MacAmp (for Apple computers). Wave is an uncompressed format.

If you are going to download MP3 files you'd better have a large hard drive, a good storage system or a CD-R drive to "burn'' your own audio CDs. An average song in MP3 format can be anywhere from three to five megabytes big. You must first convert the MP3 file to a Wave file, using a program like Ashampoo for example, before you can transfer it to a CD-R disk to make an audio CD. It's this burning or making of an audio CD that has the music industry in a tizzy over copyright.

It has become the big fad. Napster claims to have a user base of 10 million people. People are downloading free music files created by other music fans and then make their own personalised audio CDs. For many people, ripping (the word in computerspeak is used to mean making a MP3 file from a regular music CD) music then making it available on the Internet for other to download is a form of rebellion against the music industry.

Others see this as the new method of buying music. But since there is not yet a good method for ensuring copyright the music industry has so far been the main blocker of the technology. They fear of a loss of sales at the retail stores. The companies have in turn sued sites like Napster and MP3 for encouraging copyright violations. Napster is a kind of Internet community in which users exchange songs. It is illegal to copy music from a CD and redistribute it unless you have the copyright owner's permission.

The heavy-metal band Metallica even joined the fray by suing individuals and getting them blocked from exchanging their music on Napster. This action caused a lot of resentment among the band's fans.

MP3 had the same idea with the launch of my.mp3.com but recently settled by paying a multi-million cash settlement to five major record companies. Now you can presumably legally download song samples, whole songs and albums of established artists from the site. Some you pay for; some are free.

Sites like MP3 are showing the music industry that people are willing to pay for and download individual tracks to make up their personalised CDs. I can see this feature even increasing music sales for the record companies.

Who likes paying for a whole music CD just because you like one song and don't really want the rest? Downloadable music gives you that choice.

The music sites have also opened a whole new forum for new artists who haven't gained the recognition yet to be able to sell albums in vast quantities. Many make a lot of their tracks available for free on the sites giving music lovers the thrill of perhaps discovering the Next Big Thing.

The music companies should throw aside their fears and stop resisting this freedom of choice. A study by the Digital Media Association, presented to the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, concluded that streaming and downloading music on the Internet encourages CD sales.

Last week's column about the cost of the Internet in Bermuda raised a few supportive comments about the need to open the market up further. However in comparing North Rock's rates with Logic's for 75 hours of use a month I gave too low a figure for Logic. A North Rock connection for 75 hours costs $125.

At Logic 75 hours of use costs $137. The point still stands: the price is unacceptably high if Bermuda wants to encourage e-commerce entrepreneurship.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at ahmedelamin yhotmail.com or (01133) 467901474.