MP3 and Film downloads (copyrighted ones)

I've downloaded hundreds of mp3's and movies in the past but always usually buy my favourites in official form too cos im a sucker for the official packaging and all that goes with it.

What with all the crap thats on limewire and things like it with virus' and all that, i'm pretty much destined to stop downloading mp3's i think from now on.

One thing i'm wondering tho is if Sony etc have any way of knowing how many sony files i've downloaded in the past etc? I've heard of people being threatened by the music companies for downloading mp3's and stuff and was curious about that. Are Sony and co / Limewire able to see a list of all the copyrighted mp3 files and movies i've downloaded since i downloaded limewire?

As someone with such a huge (and unwarranted!) collection of official dvd's and audio cd's, i'd be annoyed if i got pulled up for past mp3 downloads!

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

[Lord of the Rings]

Get yourself Peerguardian: http://peerguardian.methlabs.org/pg2.html (FREE) & it will stop those like the riaa, etc. from accessing your computer online.

The most music I downld is from artists who I already bought all their albums. But there's lots of live material & rare performances I can't buy of theirs & will never be officially released so ... a major motivation of myself.

IMO, So long as you don't advertise what you have & don't try to sell it ... then I believe you'd be reasonably safe. If you're downlding the latest movies, particularly those that might not have even been released on dvd yet then that might bring some attention. There's a lot of people world-wide who use p2p & not only using the gnutella network. The ria, etc try to make some examples of some fools who haven't been wise & this is made a big subject in the media ("we'll be back shortly with more news after this sponsored message by ...") But it's somewhat scare tactics.