Posted: 12/18/2006 5:11:56 PM EDT
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… Over the years, I’ve managed to amass an impressive, legitimately acquired MP3 formatted music file collection. … Hypothetically, let’s say my neighbor comes over and wants to copy some of my digital music to increase the breadth of his current repertoire and improve listening choice-list. … Can the R.A.A. kick in my door (like they’ve threatened others) by offering up my collection to him? … How about if we extend scenario a bit further? What if I was to “trade” copies of my collection with you? Is that illegal if neither party gains monetarily? With 1-gigabyte zip-drives going for ~$10 these days, we could (in theory) exchange a “collection” of 500 or so songs on two drives easily … Are legal bounds that vague in this arena? How can I legitimately trade music with like-minded friends if I wanted to? |
Burn to dvd, and "DO NOT" post it on the net? 
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Unless DRM is invloved, that is.....
You don't get to keep the CD or book from the library. |
True, but if you get a book or magazine from the library and read it you get what the author produced for free and are very unlikely to ever buy that book or magazine. Unlike music we rarely read a book or magazine more than once so you get all of the value from a free loan. CDs, if you like the music, you will want a copy and either buy or copy it. If you buy it the music owner got something similar to free advertising by your loaned copy, the author of the book or mag got nothing. My point is not that libraries are in violation of copyright law or doing anything bad, it's that the authors of books do not complain about libraries or me giving away books I've read to others for free but the damn greedy music and now video industry sees piracy under every rock and in every new audio or video technology. Rich V |
| My uncles wife got popped in a giant lawsuit for "sharing" music. She was using a program like limewire. They (I forget who was behind the lawsuit, I'm sure one of the major recording labels) got the IP address' from the cox and thats how they found her. She had something like 2000+ songs though. She ended up taking a plea bargain. Still cost her a few g's. |
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If you own the original CD you can copy that music to your computer for playing. If you never purchased the music in any way you have no legal right to own it for playing. Not really complicated. And think about this. While you might not like the capitalist music labels, what about the musicians? Do they not deserve compensation for their creativity? |
Yes, but that one copy of the book itself has been bought and paid for and the author has been renumerated for it and there exists only one copy of it at the library. As long as the library doesn't allow you to photocopy the book and take that copy with you - there's no copyright violation in "sharing" that single copy of the book that sits on the library shelf. That's different from "file-sharing" - which isn't actually sharing at all, but rather it's copying and distributing that which is copyright protected.
The author of the book or mag (or CD) gets paid for the copy that is being loaned out and returned to the library. It doesn't matter if 100 people read it or no one reads it - the author has been paid for what has been created, namely that one copy of the book itself. Same with magazines and music. If you copy the contents of the magazine or CD, you are violating the copyrights of the owner of that work.
That's because the author's have already been paid for that one copy of their work sitting on the library shelf. Now if the library allowed people to go in and run off 10,000 exact-copies of their books or magazines and then distribute those 10,000 copies for free without permission from the authors/publishers - I'm sure the publishers and writers would be equally upset as the artists and producers of CDs are about the so-called "file- Copyright laws protect the right of the author of the work to have control over the copying and distribution of their copyrighted works. If you copy a protected work for "personal use", like for example as a back-up in case you lose the original, you're safe. That's allowed under the law. If you copy a protected work, then distribute that copy to others - you are likely violating the copyright protection of the author of that work. |
I saw an awesome "rockumentary" on MTV when all the napster stuff was going on with Metalica it ended on a great note with that wiry little guy from Metalica bitching for an hour about money out of his pocket and how he's starving or whatever then the music playing while the credits roled was an early metalica song that was about music being for young people to share and enjoy, hypocrites
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Lar$ was the wrong troll to be the spokesperson against Napster . Don't get me wrong I agree with the idea that it is wrong to steal music , but Lar$ spent years bragging about doing it himself until it was coming out of his own pocket instead of some one elses . 
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What if you have MP3 files of songs that you once owned on 8 track, vinyl, or cassette, but never owned on CD? Is that wrong? For example, what if you bought The Beatles' White Album on vinyl, 8 track, and cassette? Are you obligated to buy it again on CD so that you can copy it to your I-pod? |
Should not matter. |