Actually, I believe that the record companies try their hardest to deny you the provision to take personal backups but that (to my knowledge) the right to make a backup copy is consistently upheld in courts whenever the case is bought to trial.
I don't know about America, but certainly
in France this is aok, according to this blog on patent law. I'm 99% sure it's ok in Britain as well, can remember reading a court case about it somewhere.