No, not at all. These songs are the intellectual property of their composers and performers. He stole them big time and deserves the punishment he gets. It's grand larceny no matter how you slice it.
It is grand larceny but 675,000 dollars is way over the top. Are they actually saying his actions caused that much in damages? There has to be a limit one person can be expected to pay back in fines. People kill and get sent to prison for ridiculously short sentences, but download a few songs and leave your sharing port open and drop the better part of a million into the coffers. Does this kid have realy deep pockets? Do they really think this high a penalty is needed to dissuade him from repeating his actions? Or were they trying to use him as an example? Hell, just execute the little bastard scofflaw.
Grand larceny is typically defined as larceny of a more significant amount of property. In the US, it is often defined as an amount valued at $400 or more. In New York, grand larceny refers to amounts of $1,000 or more. (From Wikipedia)
So your claim is that two CDs worth of songs (30) is $400? I don't know where you go shopping, but I suggest hitting Amazon or Best Buy, as CDs I've gotten aren't in excess of $20 a pop.