You can copy songs from any CD, or an entire CD to your computer, using Windows Media Player.

Due to the offline access feature, the cloud music service can obviate the need to plug the phone into a computer when you want to copy specific songs to storage.

Musicians who want to build an audience, for instance, might permit people to copy songs for noncommercial use.

Advances in technology keep making it easier to copy and distribute songs, movies, books, and so on.

Automatic synchronization can be turned off in favor of manually copying individual songs or complete playlists.

And musicians can copy and distribute songs by sending MP3 files to stand-alone CD burners.

Despite the lawsuits filed last week against 261 people accused of illicitly distributing music over the Internet, millions of others continue to copy and share songs without paying for them.

The service, to be called RealOne Rhapsody, will allow subscribers who pay the $9.95 monthly fee to copy songs to CD's for 79 cents.

Listen.com, whose Rhapsody service offers the ability to hear songs from all five labels, is expected to let consumers start copying songs next week.

The only disappointment is that you can't copy songs from your CD's to the hard drive within Media Center.