$9,250 for each of the 24 songs, or a $222,000 fine total for a Minnesota woman guilty of 24 counts of copyright infringement. The RIAA has sued about 26,000 people over the last 4 years, in an attempt to discourage people from using peer 2 peer services to pirate content.

Considering downloading pirated music is on the rise, this doesn't come as much of a surprise, but I can't help but feel this may be more of a knee-jerk reaction than a long term strategy.

If they keep suing customers, who will ultimately be left to buy their music?