Free Republic

<p>NASHVILLE — American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh is glorified and called Jesus-like in a country-rock song to be released soon by maverick singer-songwriter Steve Earle.</p> <p>The controversial ballad called "John Walker's Blues" is backed by the chanting of Arabic prayers and praises Allah.</p>

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The record industry pleaded on Wednesday with consumers to stop downloading and recording music for free because piracy was strangling the multi-billion-dollar industry. Profits have plummeted, especially in Europe. CD sales in Germany last year were 185 million whereas the number of blank CDs used to copy music was estimated at 182 million. Record executives also believe there are now more unauthorized music files available on the Internet than at the height of Napster ( news - web sites)'s success in the field. "Music for free means less new music, fewer new artists, less choice, thousands less...

StreamCast Networks, distributor of the popular Morpheus software, is quietly counting the number of times its file swappers visit high-profile shopping sites. The company on Tuesday said it has begun installing a Web browser add-on that sends some Morpheus users on an invisible Web detour aimed at capturing data about file swappers' surfing habits. Thus, when a file swapper visits a site such as Radioshack.com, eBay.com or a handful of others, their computer visits a separate site behind the scenes before loading the final destination site. Those separate servers, run by marketing companies including Be Free, count how many times...