HW: WOTEOT

[Paul Mather]

On Thu, Mar 06, 2003 at 08:21:44AM -0000, Richard Lockwood wrote:

=> However, if I own the album on vinyl, and don't have a turntable any more,
=> I'd still want to be able to listen to it.
=>
=> Agreed, I'd rather buy it than have to "pirate" it, as you say, but if a
=> recording's no longer available, for no good reason...

Actually, making a copy so you can listen to it is not pirating, so
long as you own (and continue to own) the album.  This falls under the
(dangerously eroding) "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright law.  It
is perfectly legal to make a copy of something you own so you can,
say, listen to it in the car, or whilst jogging, or to make a safety
backup in case the original becomes damaged.  All those are perfectly
legal, when made for personal use.

What is not legal is to make copies for others that don't own legal
copies of the material, or to retain the copies you make after you
sell or give away the original (i.e., what your friend did).

I personally don't think obtaining, say MP3, copies of albums
necessarily diminishes demand for a reissue (and may in some cases
stimulate it), but I do think it is perceived as doing so in the eyes
of the record companies, which is probably the dominating factor.

(I do also think it's a little unwise to advertise the availability of
copies of official albums on a group that the band [or at least their
business manager] reads...;)

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa