Apples and oranges. When you lend a book or a magazine, typically that person doesn't photocopy it. I can lend you my CD and that's fine, but you are not authorized to make a copy of it (CD or MP3). That's the law. It's not illegal to share a single copy of a piece of media, it's only illegal/immoral/unethical to duplicate it. If an artist doesn't care about their copyright they can release their music for free under the creative commons license, and many have because typically they don't make their money off record sales - the record companies filch that. But the creator makes the rules. Ignoring the artist's wishes is theft. I don't buy this, "Information wants to be free," B.S. -- that's just an attempt at justification.
All that said, I think the RIAA is pretty much pure evil. Due to the advent of the internet (which ties this back to EJ) the old monetization model for the music industry must die. The RIAA suing 11 year-olds is just an example of the death throes of that industry. Thankfully the RIAA has suffered a number of set backs in the courts lately.
