How did we end up being the music industry's scapegoat, and what do we think about it.

The music industry has gone off the deep end. Now they want to lay the blame for music piracy on PCMag.com's doorstep. Seriously, over a dozen music industry execs signed a letter stating, "PC Magazine is encouraging" people to steal music. Allow me to explain.

Some weeks ago PCMag.com covered the . The service had been sued multiple times by the music industry for "massive" copyright infringement. This ultimately led to the service , then being resurrected (though by people who may or may not be part of the original LimeWire team). However, in the brief time Limewire was offline, PCMag.com wrote a service story on Limewire alternativesother services you could use to download and manage P2P-bourne content. This act, apparently, did not please the music industry.

Recently, our CEO Vivek Shah received a letter from music industry execs (I was CC'ed), which was subsequently posted on Billboard.com. The signees, which included the RIAA, American Society of Composers and the Gospel Music Association, expressed "deep disappointment" with the publication of this story: Our article includes this line: "PCMag does not condone the download of copyrighted or illegal material" which the execs contend "rings hollow." In reality, PCMag did not have to include that line. We did it as a courtesy and to make sure that readers do not assume the article constituted some sort of piracy approval. The music industry execs insist the article is encouraging people to steal music.

That's nonsense.

We wanted to send a direct response to the letter writers, but they failed to include a return address. We chose one of the signees and e-mailed them our thoughts, some of which are summarized below.

The story isn't encouraging or discouraging anything. That's not our role. PCMag's job is to cover all aspects of technology, which includes the products, services and activities that some groups and individuals might deem objectionable. We covered these Limewire alternatives because we knew they would be of interest to our readers. We understand that some might use them to illegally download content. We cannot encourage that action, but also cannot stop it. Reporting on the existence of these services does neither. We have, obviously, written about many online and offline services, including some that these groups might consider legitimate or "legal." However, the fact is that some users store and manage illegally gained content in music applications like iTunes. We would not stop covering these utilities simply because some users place illegal or even inappropriate content in them.

The execs also call out coverage, found elsewhere online, of Limewire's resurrection and think the act of linking to any P2P service is damning in and of itself. Linking is part of reporting online and it worries me that the music industry thinks the answer to their troubles is any editorial entity employing self-censorship.

Let me be clear, the music industry's charges remain groundless. PCMag.com is not a mouthpiece for music pirates or the music industry and we hold no stake in either side winning the copyrighted content war.

The letter goes on to suggest PCMag.com retract the article (we won't).

It worries me that the music industry took this action, because it reeks of desperation. The RIAA and other music industry organizations have spent the better part of the decade fighting the digital transition, with only a shrinking business to show for it. In recent years, though, the fist of anger has turned into at least one open hand as the music industry embraces the once shunned digital music industry. Unfortunately, that warm embrace, and the change that comes with it, are not happening fast enough. Clearly the music industry is still losing money to music piracy and even the recalibrated profit margins brought on by legal music sharing services.

It's time for these music execs to pull their collective heads out of the sand and fully acknowledge and accept all the ways their industry has changed. They also have to understand that nothing will stop technology's inexorable march forward. Things will continue to change. Music downloads and sharing will never go away. These execs have to find a way to use all that technology allows and make a business that rivals the good old days of vinyl, cassette tape and even CDs.

We will continue to cover it allas we must.