In a statement from the upstart file sharing community the company explicitly outlines its view of the RIAA's legal attacks saying, "The issue is not the copyright, it's the control."

David Boies, attorney for Napster said, "The recording industry is attempting in this case to try to maintain control over music distribution. By repeatedly refusing Napster's offers of a reasonable license and opposing a compulsory license, they have demonstrated that they are not seeking to be appropriately compensated, but rather to kill or control a technology they view as competition."

With hard language, and official legal prose, Napster hammered home its legal defense in the RIAA lawsuit saying, "regarding the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), Napster contends that the plaintiffs in their brief disregarded key language in the AHRA and substituted words that better suited their purpose."

Napster's attorneys said the RIAA ignored the purpose behind the Act's immunity provisions and that the RIAA's own General Counsel and the Ninth Circuit has already resolved this question in Napster's favor.

Eric de Fontenay, the co-founder and CEO of Tag It, an online music analyst sided with Napster on the issue of control, "traditionally the music industry has had a monopoly on distribution through copyright."

The music analyst said it isn't so much the technology the frightens the RIAA it's the first mover advantage Napster has, "they want that huge audience share because the RIAA thinks it's a dangerous technology for them not to control."

The current legal wrangling is reminiscent of MP3.com's legal forays. De Fontenay said that while MP3.com may have missed by committing obvious copyright violations, the RIAA has destroyed a competitor in the online music distribution market. He said the RIAA used its practices to better its own distribution models; such as, adding a music locker where browsers can keep song titles for future use.

"The RIAA is more concerned with keeping their existing monopoly on music use by controlling the online distribution market and wrapping files with security and encryption technologies," he said.

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And to stir things up just a bit more, alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins released an online album on the group's Web site, and via Napster downloads. The new album is titled "Machina II:The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music."

The group's label, Virgin Records is participating in the RIAA's copyright lawsuit against Napster.

An unconfirmed report states that a message was posted on the band's Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section of their Web site which states, "Machina II was released on vinyl as a final f--- you to a record label that didn't give (The Pumpkins) the support they deserved."

The note went on to say, "Just to clear up any possible confusion, this is the final album from the band. There are 25 (vinyl) copies. There will not be a CD pressing."

The Smashing Pumpkins release was first reported by The Drudge Report and later by MTV.

"It plays into what I've been waiting to see," says de Fontenay. "Artists are the only ones that have the branding abilities, and what they are looking for is free agency, kind of like in sports where they would be able to build shorter contracts, out clauses, in addition to setting up their own online distribution model."

"You'll see a lot more of this," he added.