ahmm OGG is lossless compression, but thats not that big of a difference when it comes to sharing.
on the note of the "crime" I bet the 12 year old girl (who probably mistakenly shred her root directory) who is being sued, is simply a great sign of the great "free"dom of america.
sharing files "safely" is to avoid the intimidation actions of the big corps and institutions.
that beig said some people are suing the companies right now. (if we take suing as a sign of some crime..

)
about the direct support ot the artists...
a check can work

but there are sites on the net just for that.
actuallly some artists have their work posted there for free, and if you like it you support them. If you want to you can find a way and the sites.
hard to swallow concept if you work in the "machine" (RIAA, label co. etc)
actually I can't wait for the new standard of sony's CD with realistic audio to become used widely.