music: analog ownership = digital ownership ?

Factual Questions
1

From what I’ve gathered, if you buy a music CD, you’re allowed to make digital copies of it (burn another CD, make MP3’s etc.) for personal use, since I’m just copying something I already own. I can even download digital versions of it through napster, etc., since I own it also, and a digital copy from my CD is indistinguishable from a copy from somebody else’s CD.

What if I buy the cassette tape or vinyl album? If I buy an album, can I legally make a digital copy of the same music from someone else’s CD, or can I only copy from my analog album? If I buy an old, scratchy Dark Side of the Moon at a yard sale for $1, can I make a perfect digital copy of someone else’s CD or get an MP3 because I own the music too, or is the digital version not the same product? Or am I stuck making copies from my scratchy album only?

Taken to the extreme, lets say I buy a melted, non-functional album or tape at a yard sale. Does this give me the right to copy it from someone else?

Arjuna34

2

just a wag-
I think the missing link is distribution. You can make a copy for your own use, but if you give it to your friend, that’s infringement. Even if your friend owns a perfect digital copy already, its the distribution that’s illegal.

3

actually, if you read the audio home recording act has a lot of info:

http://www.riaa.com/Copyright-Laws-4.cfm#1

http://www.riaa.com/Licensing-AARC-1.cfm

granted it’s on the riaa’s webpage, so it could be biased, but i’ve found it to be unbiased. good info here too:

http://www.riaa.com/Music-Rules-2.cfm

do a search on their main page for the audio home recording act or AHRA. great info, and more than you’ll need.

4

From reading some of the links provided by ubermensch, it appears that m3 is right.

Arjuna34