Sirius has worked a deal with the major record labels that clears it to sell the S50, a Tivo-for-radio-style receiver that also plays MP3s. But man, what a terrible deal it is:

The deal, which will allow Sirius to market its S50 device without fear of a pitched legal battle, follows pacts Sirius made with the three other major music labels last month. Music executives had argued that Sirius' player, which allows users to record up to 50 hours of music without paying any additional fees, violated earlier agreements they had signed with the satellite service.

[Other deals] reportedly call for Sirius to pay the labels a fee for each device sold, and cap the number of gadgets that Sirius will sell. Sirius is marketing the player for $330.

How crappy does that sound? Negotiations forced through fear of litigation, the extorting party gets a cut of each device sold, and there's a limit to the number Sirius can sell? This situation is a direct result of the climate of fear that the copyright cartels have created; any device that touches their content may be subject to a lawsuit that's too expensive to defend, even if no law has been broken.

And remember that this most recent round of abuse is not happening because the device-maker is a pipsqueak start-up. This is Sirius, the satellite radio company that hosts Howard Stern and expects over $600 million in revenues this year. If the copyright cartels can exact such terrible deals from large companies -- and the average consumers that they serve -- what hope is there for the little guys?