The Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) has released a new report, in conjunction with research firm the NPD Group, claiming that burned copies of albums are an even bigger threat to the industry than illegal file sharing. Burned CD-R copies of albums made up 29 percent of all recorded music acquired by fans last year, said RIAA chief Mitch Bainwol. Only 16 percent came from file-sharing networks.

The study claims that only about half of all recordings music fans obtained in 2004 were legal CD purchases, with four percent coming from legal music downloads. Additionally, 12 percent of all households burn CDs, with 17 percent burning over 10 every month.

Bainwol spoke to the National Association Of Record Merchandisers in San Diego last Friday, saying that the industry needs to "to demonstrate adaptability to move the debate beyond issues of 'models' to the core questions of property and right versus wrong."

In related news, the RIAA is being taken to court for the first time by one of the many people it has filed suit against for file-sharing. While the other cases have all been settled out of court, single mom Patricia Santangelo is taking the RIAA to trial. She claims that the file-sharing program on her computer was not used by her or her family, but by a friend of one of her children. Santangelo told The Journal News, "I am still nervous about the whole thing. I just got so aggravated about how threatening they were." She added, "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I pay them?"