Downloading music for free has become as routine to college students as sleeping through classes and late-night Pokey Stix binges. This happened, in part, by retailers being slow to recognize the trend and counteract it. Now, we have cheap MP3s available through iTunes, Amazon, Wal-Mart and others, and free streaming available on MySpace, Pandora and others.

Whether you choose to go illegal or legal in acquiring your songs, both methods have faced serious opposition this week.

Wired reported last week that the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, which raises the enforcement and penalties for violating Internet protocol laws. Thankfully, the Senate cut out a provision in the bill that would give the Department of Justice the power to enforce the law on the behalf of the RIAA and copyright holders — effectively putting the government to work for media companies instead of the American people.

Even without this controversial measure, the implications for file-sharers of the world are dire. Besides the stiffer penalties to file sharing, the bill still allows for the creation of an intellectual property enforcement coordinator position in the White House to monitor violations of IP law and aid in the enforcement of those laws. This “IP czar,” as it is being called, would fill essentially the same role as the U.S. drug czar in the war on drugs.

We know P2P file sharing of copyrighted materials is illegal, and we do not support it as such. But we also acknowledge that it is too widespread to be controlled. A 2008 study by the Intellectual Property Institute at the University of Richmond found that one in three college students download music illegally. We also believe the attitude that music should be free originated from greedy record labels and retailers boosting the price of popular CDs well out of the price range of their core consumers — young people. We must protest the RIAA’s belief that more policing will bring back its market base. It will only piss them off more.

There is good news for those of you who purchase or stream music online. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Copyright Royalty Board voted to maintain the current royalty rate of 9 cents per track paid to artists for CDs and digital downloads.

The proposed 66 percent increase would have crippled many online distributors who could no longer afford the royalties. Apple even threatened to shut down its lucrative Music Store earlier this week if the price went up.

The way it’s looking, corporations are finally wising up to how younger generations spend their money — or don’t — on music. And for those who don’t, the future is looking grim.