# Ripping MP3s for personal use
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 8, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712 "2001-07-08T17:48:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/1 "2001-07-08T17:48:27Z")
It is not my intent to question the mods, but;
In this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77198](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77198)
Chronos says that the courts consider it to be illegal to rip MP3s from CD even if it for your own personal use. However I can’t find anything to substantiate this. Even in the Recording Industry Association of America’s website [http://www.riaa.com/Music-Rules-2.cfm](http://www.riaa.com/Music-Rules-2.cfm) where the closest they get to addressing this is:
“A copyright is infringed when a song is made available to the public by uploading it to an Internet site for other people to download, sending it through an e-mail or chat service, or otherwise reproducing or distributing copies without authorization from the copyright owner. In civil cases copyright infringement can occur whether or not money was exchanged for the music, and in criminal cases there only needs to be a possibility of financial loss to the copyright holder or financial gain to the infringer. The NET Act defines “financial gain” as the receipt or expectation of receipt of anything of value, including receipt of other copyrighted works (as in MP3 trading).”
But this doesn’t seem to expressly deny the right to rip for your own personal use. Is it legal to make a tape recording from an album? Isn’t that pretty much the same thing as making an MP3 from a CD?
This brings up another point. If all of this trading in MP3s is illegal, why aren’t used CD stores?
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### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/2 "2001-07-08T17:50:41Z")
OK. I’m going to TRY to leave this here as a GQ thread.
Any mod-bashing will be deleted. At least. Capice?
Any links to ripping programs or similar will be deleted. At least.
We’re looking for links to legal decisions, news stories, and the like.
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/3 "2001-07-08T17:54:50Z")
Thanks manhattan.
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### Author:  [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/4 "2001-07-08T18:00:02Z")
Oh sure, by MY gq on this subject gets closed…
🙂
Just teasing.
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### Author:  [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/5 "2001-07-08T18:49:03Z")
As I said in another thread, now moved to the Pit, the Home Recording Act of 1992 explicitly allows users to make recordings for their own personal use. Encoding mp3s for personal use from legally purchased CDs was declared legal in 1999 by the RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia lawsuit. It is perfectly legal to rip CDs for your own personal use. Citations to these cases can be found at:
[http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/cyberlaw/09law.html](http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/cyber/cyberlaw/09law.html)
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2001, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ripping-mp3s-for-personal-use/71712/6 "2001-07-08T19:24:21Z")
Of course, then ripping programs are perfectly legal, and links to them should be fine. Right?
Or should I complain to the police that my local BestBuy sells Roxio EZ Cd Creator, which besides burning CDs can also rip audio CDs into MP3s?