Why is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fighting Napster and sites like it? Here are some snippets from their site. You can read the entire article at http://www.riaa.com/Old_Napster.cfm

What is the RIAA action against Napster all about? RIAA, on behalf of its members, sued Napster because it launched a service that enables and facilitates piracy of music on an unprecedented scale. At any single point in time, hundreds of thousands of users may be logged onto Napster offering millions of pirated sound recordings.

Why is that wrong?

Based on our sampling, the overwhelming majority of the MP3 files offered on Napster are infringing -- and we believe Napster knows this and even encourages it.

Napster is thus enabling and encouraging the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted music. Just because Napster itself may not house the infringing recordings does not mean Napster is not guilty of copyright infringement. Copyright law has long recognized that someone who materially contributes to infringing activity, with knowledge of that activity, is liable for copyright infringement as if that person did the copying him or herself.

What about consumers' rights?

This is not a consumer rights issue. There is a big difference between a consumer making a copy for his or her own personal use, and that same consumer making the file available on Napster where it can be freely downloaded by thousands of people. Not even the staunchest proponents of consumer rights have suggested that the latter is fair or lawful.

Read more about MP3s in: MP3's are not the way for entertainment