or at least, not illegal. What is illegal is making copies of music someone else owns and doesn't want to you to copy. But that's far from the end of the story, however much the Cartel wants it to end there.

In a long piece that must be giving coronaries to the RIAA, NYTimes music critic Jon Pareles lays out the case for free legal downloads. First, there's the act itself. If you download, you're not committing a crime. Those people the RIAA sued? They're people who offered music up to be copied. No share-ee, no sue-ee. (At least, not yet. Let us not say this state of affairs is permanent.)

Then there's the fully legal downloads. The unknown bands. The indie labels. The rare or hard to find tracks from musicians as well known as Bob Dylan. And the logical successor to the tape-sharing networks like the Deadheads: furthurnet.

Pareles' piece gives lots of URLs and some good notice of things you didn't know (well, *I* didn't) but not much depth on the underlying issues. Still, a good set of links to follow and fill your hard drive with.