# Napster Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266 "2000-06-23T02:13:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/1 "2000-06-23T02:13:52Z")
Today a friend of mine at work was humming an old Neil Young tune (“Don’t Let it Get You Down” FWIW), a song I used to love. I used to own it, and everything Neil had done up till then on (gasp! **vinyl**. Anyway, my album collection was stolen seven or eight years ago. Hundreds and hundreds of albums gone. Instead of replacing the vinyl I simply migrated to CD’s. Needless to say, alot of my older collection was never replaced. When I got home today, I decided to see if that Neil Young tune was available on Napster (it wasn’t). But, if it was, would I have a good legal argument to download it? I mean I already purchased a legal “license” to the song, I no longer have my copy, and I didn’t profit from selling it. Any opinions? ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/2 "2000-06-23T02:22:47Z")
Sorry. I meant to post this on General Questions. Can the Moderator please move this thread? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/3 "2000-06-23T02:29:43Z")
Yeah, I have an opinion. This really doesn’t seem like Pit material. What’s that? Oh, you meant an opinion on the Napster question! Okay. Umm…a lot of people use Napster and, aside from the Metallica thing, no real problems (that I know of) have come out of that use. I say go for it. If you find a song you like, download it. But instead of using the “Oh, I _used_ to **own** a copy of it” arguement, if an authority figure asks you to get rid of it, do so quietly. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/4 "2000-06-23T02:31:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I meant to post this on General Questions. > > \*\* Whoops!! That wasn’t there when I typed my reply…don’t I feel like a jackass now… ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/5 "2000-06-23T02:37:00Z")
FWIW, I’m not looking for some kind of dodge, or legal “wiggle room”. This is a real scenario, but the question never occurred to me until today. ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/6 "2000-06-23T04:41:47Z")
As of right now, you have the legal right to download whatever you want using Napster. As for the moral right, I suppose that is something you must decide for yourself. This gets into very complicated questions concerning an artists right to get paid for their work, what rights they have on their own creations, etc. Legally though, you are fine. . . and will be until a court of law rules against Napster. Which or may not happen. I say go for it. _And yes, this does belong in GQ._ ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/7 "2000-06-23T07:18:19Z")
Movin’ this to GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/8 "2000-06-23T07:34:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > As of right now, you have the legal right to download whatever you want using Napster. As for the moral right, I suppose that is something you must decide for yourself. This gets into very complicated questions concerning an artists right to get paid for their work, what rights they have on their own creations, etc. Legally though, you are fine. . . and will be until a court of law rules against Napster. Which or may not happen. I say go for it. > > _And yes, this does belong in GQ._ > \*\* Untrue. The fact that Napster is still legal has nothing to do with copyright infringement. I would say that morally you are in the clear, legally you are not. You bought the albums. You licensed a copy for your own personal use. You never sold the license. Stolen licenses are not valid. You still have every legal right to that music for personal use. Proving that you ever bought the album (license) would be the legal struggle. [sub]Disclaimers: IANAL I am an MP3 whore who loathes and depises the RIAA You should read this [article](http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/index.html) by Courtney Love. No, really, it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/9 "2000-06-23T11:02:42Z")
Gatsby: Thanks. Great article by Courtney Love- very articulate, and right on target, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/10 "2000-06-23T11:06:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I would say that morally you are in the clear, legally you are not. There’s two ways to interpret that. Legally, he’s in the clear, in the sense that he’s not doing anything illegal (according to you). But he’s not “in the clear” in that he may face legal challenge–but that would be like someone falsely accused of a crime. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/11 "2000-06-23T12:43:04Z")
If you download a song, you’re making a copy. You can’t legally make a copy without the permission of the copyright holder. Whether you own a copy of the song in question is irrelevant. That’s the legality. As a matter of fact, the law has provisions that require an accounting for any electronic copies made (and these provisions predated Napster). People don’t get taken to court for using Napster because it isn’t cost effective to file suits for everyone who breaks the law. It’s not likely that you’d see a lawsuit over this, but just because you aren’t being punished for it doesn’t mean you’re not breaking the law. As far as the Courtney Love article, she points out – rightly – how the record companies are ripping off artists. However, just because they’re doing it doesn’t give you license to join them. Napster piracy may be a smaller issue at the moment, but it will continue to grow – and to the point where the record companies will look like the good guys. At least they’re willing to make _some_ payment. Napster is not, and I’ve never seen an MP3 trader who wanted to pay the artists for their MP3s, either. ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2000, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-question/23266/12 "2000-06-23T14:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > If you download a song, you’re making a copy. You can’t legally make a copy without the permission of the copyright holder. Whether you own a copy of the song in question is irrelevant. That isn’t exactly correct. When I purchase an CD, I am purchasing a license to listen to the tunes on that disc. Under “fair use”, I am automatically allowed to make a copy for my personal use. This is also true for software, although a copy of software must be for backup purpose only- you can’t run the software on two computers simultaneously unless given **expressed** permission by your software license. This limit doesn’t apply to music. As an aside: The whole DVD-copying flap centers around the fact that DVD manufacturers placed copy protection on the discs - which bypasses the customers’ **legal right** to protect their investment by making a backup copy.