With reckless teens everywhere stealing music online, it's a tough time for the music biz—one of the reasons Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons decided to unload the Warner Music Group back in 2003. But not before he, um, downloaded the entire Warner Music Group catalog for his own personal use.

Parsons, a noted jazz fan, told Reuters recently that he has "iPods everywhere" and that he stuffed them full of Warner Music's back-catalog—which includes the works of Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Prince, and thousands of other artists—before unloading the unit to Edgar Bronfman Jr. "I like music," the presumptive New York mayoral hopeful told Reuters. "I had the whole bunch of [the Warner music collection] files put on before we sold it."

Warner's catalog includes more than one million songs, a number that would cost about $1 million if purchased through the iTunes music store, and could fit on about 50 iPods.

As BoingBoing pointed out yesterday, it's hard to see how Parsons's preferred method of getting songs—not paying for them—differs from that of thousands of music fans that the Recording Industry Association of America, which counted the Warner Music Group as a member at the time Parsons was dipping his iPods in company ink, has sued for theft.

The RIAA has filed roughly 18,000 lawsuits against illegal downloaders since September of 2003 and settled 4,500 for an average of $4,000. The association's standard suit claims damages of $750 per song, which means that if Parsons were just a schmo with a lot of time on his hands and a broadband connection, he'd be on the hook for three-quarters of a billion dollars.

A Time Warner spokeswoman declined to clarify Parsons's remarks or answer questions, saying only, "Any music that Dick obtained from Warner Music Group was legal and authorized by WMG's management."

"The record labels treat fans like criminals," says Derek Slater, an activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposes the RIAA's tactics. "They just want to use their iPods in cool ways like Dick Parsons. I wish he and the labels would stop trying to prevent that."

The RIAA declined to comment.

Photo: Splash News & Picture Agency