Although usually such good friends, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Satellite radio provider XM have just fallen out over a new portable digital music player and they're airing their dirty laundry in public with a multi-million dollar law suit.

The dispute is over a new player that allows XM subscribers to record songs played over the network and the RIAA contend that this isn't covered by existing licence agreements which XM have already paid for. The 'Inno' player is part of the XM2go service and is marketed under the slogan 'Hear It. Click It. Save It.' and allows subscribers to save songs that they hear on the radio and play them on demand at a later date. So, even though the Inno might look like a walkie talkie, it functions like a radio and iPod rolled into one and that's got the RIAA worried.

The RIAA is suing for a whopping $150,000 for every song downloaded by XM subscribers, and although this could amount to an enormous amount of money it looks unlikely that this suit will ever end up in court. This particular legal action seems primarily designed to put pressure on XM to sign a licensing deal with the RIAA for the new service, not to exact a huge damages payment. XM's biggest rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., have already signed up with the RIAA for a similar service, so it seems inevitable that in time XM will finally sign up as well. But in an industry that is heavy on costs and desperate to get new subscribers on board, XM is likely to fight hard to keep any new licence fees as low as possible