Trent Reznor, lead singer of rock band Nine Inch Nails, made headlines this week when he urged fans of the band to steal their music in protest against the high prices changed by record companies. Reznor slammed his band’s record label, Universal Music, saying that NIN fans were being ripped off by the high price of the band’s latest CD, Year Zero.

On stage at a gig September 16, Reznor told fans to steal the CD instead of buying it. Reznor yelled, “My record label all around the world hates me. I called them out for being greedy. Has anyone seen the price come down? OK, well, you know what that means: steal it. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing.”

While you could commend Reznor for lashing out against the music industry, perhaps telling people to steal from stores is pushing the boundaries a bit far.

The band’s latest CD is on sale in Australia for the equivalent of about US$25, which to us, being English, looks pretty average. Apparently, someone from Universal told Reznor that the price is so high because NIN fans are willing to pay more.

If you ask us, we don’t see what all the fuss is about. Do people still even buy CDs? Last time we looked, almost every person listening to music was downloading it off the Internet or burning copies, using the money saved to go towards a new iPod Touch. Oh yeah; we want an iPod Touch.

Seriously though, you should buy CDs, at least sometimes, to support the artists. Don’t steal music from stores though.

It’s been a long, troubled road for Spiral Frog, but at long last, the ad-based, online music store has made it debut with more than 750,000 songs available for free download, along with 3,500 music videos.

As well as various independent record labels, music giant Universal Music Group is also in with Spiral Frog. When news of Spiral Frog was first anoucned last year, many saw a revolution coming in the online music world, but money problems left some questioning how successful Spiral Frog could be.

Unless some serious money is generated from ad sales, and fast, Spiral Frog could well spiral out of control.

Working in Spiral Frog’s favor is the teaming up with Universal, who own a quarter of the global music market.

Monthly memberships must be renewed by users every 30 days and songs can be downloaded to any hand-held device, such as an MP3 player.

According to Billboard, eight of the top 10 selling songs last week were available on Spiral Frog… for free.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Check out Spiral Frog today. The service is only available in the US and Canada at this time.

Fallen pop princess Britney Spears has been ruffling all the wrong feathers recently, but she may have found a new friend in Simon Cowell and his fellow American Idol judges. Cowell has offered to help give Britney Spears’ fledging career a boost after her shaky performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.

If you haven’t seen what a hungover Britney Spears looks like when she’s dancing, take a look at this video. Be warned though, it makes for some uncomfortable viewing.

How could the former Princess of Pop have sunk to this level? Her steps are off, her stance is timid, and she looks unsteady.

“We will take her under our wing for six months and we will produce a new Britney Spears,” said Cowell, who voiced his concern that Britney may have killed her career once and for all.

Another nail in the coffin came when sh*t-hot producer Timbaland refused to work with Britney in what could have resulted in much-needed, A-grade pop material for Britney’s comeback. Timbaland and Justin Timberlake had agreed to work with Britney, but Britney’s attitude caused a riff between the three.

If Britney apologizes, Timbaland is confident that something could be worked out, but the way she is at the moment, you’ve got to wonder if there are any logical thoughts left inside Britney Spears’ head.

We miss the old Britney. Whatever happened to her?

You paid good money for your CDs, and you expect to be able to play them anywhere, or transfer them to your iPod - or whatever cool gadget comes out next year. However, if the American music companies get their way, such transfers will be illegal. That’s right: you won’t be able to play your CDs on your music player!

What’s going on here?

The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement requires new laws which prevent “circumvention of technological protection measures”. Some companies want the government to go further and ban any access that the copyright owner doesn’t allow. This means the music companies can decide how, when and where you listen to your music. Worse still, this law would apply to more than just CDs: games, software and movies are all included under the “technological” umbrella.

Will the record companies give you the choice? For their perspective, we quote Tommi Kyyrä, of IFPI Finland:

“Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos,” said Kyyrä. “If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player.”

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