based on a thread recently closed by a moderator, I began thinking:
Is it really illegal to make personal copies of your own purchased compact discs for your own enjoyment and use? Can anyone cite some recent court rulings that forbid turning one of your own rightfully-purchased cds into MP3s?
I know that software cds are legal to make a backup copy of. They cost a helluva lot more than music discs do. Maybe that’s the reason.
If it is illegal, why does Macintosh have that commercial where the popular music artists are all on stage, and the guy is telling them what songs he wants from them, only to have the voiceover tell us that we can burn our own cds on that computer? This makes no sense if you aren’t permitted to copy your own purchased discs. (That was a Mac commercial, right?)
Let’s hear some concrete proof one way or the other folks.
Thanks.
I was wondering that myself. I have haerd that all cassetts tapes have a fee attached so the record companies will get something for the copying done with them. I don’t think cd-r’s have that fee but maybe the ones marked ‘for music only’ do.
where does the illegality start:
1 making a tape off a cd to play in your car
2 combining songs from multiple cd’s onto one for convienence
3 Hi O!
4 making a cd off of your cd to play in your car.
5 making a cd off your cd so you can have one at your summer house
6 making a tape off your cd so our brother can have one <this is where I assume it started but don’t know>
7 cd off of cd so you brother can have one.
8 cd off of cd so your friend can have one
9 50 cd’s off of cd so everyone you know can have one
10 10,000 cd’s off of cd so you can give themout to everyone at Grand Central Station.
Now I don’t feel the need to go into mp3’s here as I assume the actual format doesn’t really matter (ex. tapes because of the fees and analoge format) and # 10 is pretty close to trading music on the internet.
I’m not asking for a moral point but a legal point - in the above how far is illegal? does it matter if it is mp3?
Chas.E clarifies things a bit in this recent thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77237
I’ve yet to find any guidance as to whether it’s legal for me to make a CD from someone else’s copy of a record after the LP I owned was e.g. eaten by a goat.
It seems to me that by buying an LP I purchased the right to listen to the music therein, but the music companies probably claim that all I purchased was an ephemeral rendition of the companies inalienable property. Does anyone know which view is closer to current reality ?
And since this issue is now being browbeaten into submission in the Pit, I’m closing this one.