Buying music on a CD?? Be warned!! >:(

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by WillowIX: Hi Yorick. It sounds like you´re well read on the subject so I´m hoping you can answer some of my questions (and these are honest question with absolutely no malice!). 1) I got confused by your answer above. Downloading music is illegal (no questions there ). How about having MP3s on your harddrive? Not downloaded and not shared! But they provide easy access when listening to music on the computer.

Hi Willow! I'll step in here and try and answer these as best I can, Yorick will probably still answer. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Making MP3s for your own use is covered under the "fair use" clause of the copyright act, as long as you don't sell or distribute them, you're fine.

2) Is there any music that is legal to download? I found some sites that claim this but I´ve not dared to download it. This is on the internet and not in a file-sharing program.

There are MP3s that are legal, but I'd watch very carefully the claims made by these sites; the rule of thumb is stuff the author has posted is safe, otherwise it's likely an illegal copy.

3) Is it downloading or sharing music that´s illegal or is it both?

Downloading or sharing is illegal unless it is explicitly condoned by the copyright owner, in many cases it is the author, often it is the publishing company.

4) Is it illegal to copy your LPs onto CDs? I mean it´s still a copied unbought CD, but I already do own the album...

This goes back to "fair use". You already own the album, so you can tape it/burn it so long as it is for your own personal use. Sharing burned copies is a gray area, as sharing the original is patently legal, but I would say that sharing a burned copy is probably a bad idea at best.

[ 11-18-2002, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Sir Krustin ]

[WillowIX]

Thanks a bunch Sir K! I don´t have to worry then! [img]smile.gif[/img]