Mod’s if you feel this post crosses some line please accept my apology in advance but I believe the way I am phrasing the question and what I am asking does not violate any laws.
There is a ruiling on the books that allows time shifting of Television shows. That is shy it’s legal to use a VCR to record a show for your personal use to watch at a later time. It is also I believe legal to record something off the radio to listen to later.
I subscribe to AOL. As a benefit of the subscription they have new cd’s that you can listen to online. Each week the selection of CD’s that you can listen to change. If I was to record the output of the song for my personal use. (Not giving copies away or selling them) would that also fall under fair use? If so would it be allowed to record the audio that is going out to the sound card while it is still in digital format or do I have to record from the speakers so it is in analog first?
Check the fine print of your contract with AOL, to insure that the type of recording your propse isn’t forbidden in their Terms Of Service. If it’s forbidden, you’re pretty much out of luck, legality-wise. If not, you’re still in a grey area legally. I would think that the ruling to which you refer (IIRC it was Sony vs. Betamax) would provide precident to say it is legal. However, don’t be suprised if AOL or the Recording Industry Ass. Of America tried to sue you for copyright infringment, even though they’re the ones sending you the content. How they would ever catch you in the act, though, is a question left to the reader.
Jweb after reading the member agreement of AOL. the only term of services that seens to apply is pasted below but after reading it I am even more confused.
It says I may use any contest available on the AOL service but only for personal non-commercial pourposes which is what I want to do, but then it says I can’t attempt to circumvent any mechanisims for preventing the unauthorised reproduction or distrubition of content. I don’t know if recording streaming audio is considered circumventing anything.
It also says “You may not use the Content in a manner that exceeds the rights granted for your use of the Content, which includes unauthorized copying or distribution of the Content or creating an unauthorized derivative work.”
well if the material is up for 7 days then is taken down am I exceeding the rights granted for my use?
a. Your Use of Content as an AOL Member
AOL, its Suppliers and its members who lawfully post Content on AOL Services own the property rights to that Content. The Content is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, international treaties, laws and other proprietary rights, and also may have security components that protect digital information only as authorized by AOL or Supplier. You agree that you will not take any action to interfere with AOL’s or its Suppliers’ ownership of or rights in the Content and you will not attempt to circumvent any mechanisms for preventing the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of the Content.
You may use any Content available on the AOL Services, but only for personal, non-commercial purposes You may be given the opportunity to download certain Content such as music and photos, but you may do so only to the extent as authorized for that particular Content and only for your personal use. You may not use the Content in a manner that exceeds the rights granted for your use of the Content, which includes unauthorized copying or distribution of the Content or creating an unauthorized derivative work.
Generally speaking, streaming content allows the user to listen/view the contents while streaming and at no other time. If you want to listen/view the contents again, you must must initiate the content streaming all over again. In short, you have the right to listen/view the contents only at that time. You have no right to record the streaming content for playback of your own choosing. That AOL creates a seven day listenining window means just that - usrs may listen to the streaming content during that time. After seven days, the content is no longer available. If you somehow recorded the streaming content for playback, either during the seven-day window or later, you violate the terms of your agreement with AOL.
Duckster, isn’t the situation the OP is asking about is EXACTLY the same as recording a TV broadcast for personal use? (only played at a certain time, not repeated) The same laws would then apply. It seems to me as if the OP would have a decent argument for fair use rights in this case, rights that cannot be taken away just by AOL saying, “right, you don’t get fair use rights anymore!”
If this were me, I would record the content for my personal use. I would feel pretty secure in the legality/morality of my doing this - it’s pretty much exactly like recording a song off the radio. I would not be worried about any legal repercussions, either. I would not, however, drive on up to RIAA headquarters and tell them what I’d done - though I’d be pretty certain of eventual victory if they got pissed off and tried to sue me, legal battles are not my idea of a good time.
Recording a television broadcast for later viewing was defined in Sony v. Universal Studios 464 U.S. 417 (1984). It worth a read for several reasons. It explains the rights of a private individual to record a broadcast for personal viewing at a later time (time-shifting). Note that this court decision was rendered in 1984.
What remains to be seen is if the Sony case applies to current digital technology, recordings and distribution.
You may want to read up on fair use. In this specific issue, you are probably out of luck.
Exapno is correct. The revised law incorporates time shifting of video, but also incorporates a prohibition against digital copying.
“Fair use” is not a right. It only applies if a court determines it applies, and the only on a case-by-case basis. In addition, the law lists reasons why fair use might apply, and “convenience of the user” is not one of them.