Mitch Bainwol, Chairman & CEO of RIAA, keynoted last week's convention of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM).

News reports picked up one point in the talk -- that CD burning is as big an issue for the industry as illicit downloading -- but that was a small part of it.

The whole thing (73 power points) is a very interesting survey of the state of the business, examining the impact of Grokster on public opinion (huge!); trends in CD sales and digital consumption; research on the impact of downloading on sales; generational issues; the impact of the RIAA lawsuits; the growth of legal downloading options at universities; and thoughts on the future.

I would like to see an additional slide, though -- one making the point explicitly that music fans havbe the biggest stake in eliminating the free-riding inherent in P2P downloading and/or unlimited burns. If costs are spread across the total fan base, they will be lower for each individual.