Users are fuming over rumours that Dell, Gateway and Pac Bell have apparently bowed to RIAA pressure to dump software that would allow ripping on-screen video.

Online news groups are angry that their nice new shiny Dells, which used to be able to run a sound card stereo mix, are now unable to do so.

Dell insists that it has not heard a dicky bird from the RIAA, and that the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix option was most likely due to an issue with laptops running XP. It said a driver existed to correct the problem.

But, as the online blogs point out, the driver does not work for all Dell computers, and users are questioning why the option was disabled in the first place.

No one can prove RIAA involvement with Stereo Mix as a fact, but as a rumour it does not seem to be going away. X

Check out
Ripen