Well, at least this oughta tie things up in court for a couple years.

Amazon has filed a lawsuit in New York contesting a controversial new state law requiring some online retailers to collect sales tax on purchases shipped to New York’s residents, even if they have no offices or employees there.

The e-commerce giant filed its challenge to the law in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeking a declaratory ruling that the law is “invalid, illegal and unconstitutional.” [Reuters/InternetNews.com]

With the amount of file sharing going on these days, I’d imagine you can find almost any out of print title somewhere online if you dig deep enough. Having said that, I still don’t believe that mp3s are a substitute for having the physical disc, so I kind of think this endeavour is a good thing.

Sony/BMG and EMI plan to release out-of-print albums on CD through CreateSpace, Amazon’s service for creating products as customers order them — sort of like CafePress for CDs, books and DVDs.

“Through our partnerships with SONY/BMG and EMI music, Amazon customers have an even greater selection of music to choose from today,” said Amazon’s VP of music and movies, Peter Faricy. ” CreateSpace ‘Disc on Demand’ is not only making out-of-print albums available once again, but it’s also enabling digital-only titles and international titles that haven’t been released in the U.S. to be made available on CD.”

Among the out-of-print albums to be released under the plan are Henry Mancini’s Hatari Soundtrack, Joe Strummer’s Earthquake Weather, Cake’s Motorcade of Generosity, Bill Stewart’s Telepathy, Tony Williams’ Foreign Intrigue and Grant Green’s Carryin’ On. Some labels are using the service to release new stuff too, including KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic series and the soundtrack for ESPN’s Strongest Man.[blog.wired.com]