Honest Question

masterrhodes

On Your Ban List
Over half of my Morrissey collection is still on cassette. Because I already have purchased the music, can I download the albums off the net? If I can download them...where can I get them? If it is illegal or "not right" I will just buy them. Also, if this is posted in the wrong section, please move it.
 
Probably wrong to download them but my advice is this.

The sound quality is SO much better with a physical CD than any mp3 copies you download.

Not to mention an improvement over your cassettes.
 
Wow, that's a good question. Is it illegal? Well, there's never been a test case for that. The Home Recording Act of 1992 allows you to make 1 digital backup copy of each of your albums. But the language more-or-less excludes the possibility of using a computer - the idea was that you could make a backup copy on a standalone CD burner/copier, using those special audio CDs where some royalties are included in the purchase price... do they even sell those anymore?

Anyway, protections exist for making a backup copy of music you already own, but not for freely obtaining a better copy of music you already own... similarly, you're not entitled to a DVD of a movie just because you own the VHS.

I don't really think it would be 'wrong' to download the songs; it's not specifically illegal, as the law hasn't yet addressed it; at the same time, there's no legal protection for it, and the record industry would more than likely view the download as illegal, if it ever came to that.

Dallow's right about quality too; you'd have to find uncompressed or lossless files to do a CD justice.

love, math+
 
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That being said, I download copyrighted music ALL the time.

However, I usually buy most of it if I like it.
Usually, the download is just to hold me over until I can find a copy of the CD since a lot of what I download is out of print.
 
Liberace said:
The way you sign your name after each post, as if we don't already know it's you, rips right through my senses! Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

ignore this paedophilic monster, he is an abomination against mankind, he looks more like a milk-bottle than a man
 
Liberace, if I sent you a letter, with my name and return address on the envelope, and in my handwriting of course, you'd know the letter was from me, but I would still sign it. It's only an affectation. I won't sign this one though, so you can read it just slightly quicker. :)
 
Hey, Math - I read something on my lj flist about the right to making a back-up being under threat. Have you heard anything about that? The source article was in German, so I couldn't figure out more.

Kate

xxx
 
Kate, no, I'm clueless there, but as you've probably been able to discern from my absence from all the best corners of the internet (excluding brief exclamations here at moz-solo), I haven't been keeping up with... really anything at all except Morrissey's setlists.

This page has a listing of all U.S. legislation relating to the legal issues surrounding mp3s; I don't know what the comparable legislation is in Britain. You (tried to) read something in German? I gather it was about a global initiative or something?

In the U.S., the big piece of legislation is the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, but it mainly focuses on the machines/equipment used to make duplicate copies, not the duplicate copies themselves. For instance, making/distributing a 'digital audio recorder' that lacks the Serial Copy Management System (or a similar system) is prohibited. Well, that's precisely what computers are, in part (a digital audio recorder with no SCMS). But nobody could possibly stop the distribution of computers on such grounds, nor even iTunes this late in the game. Anyway, the parts of the Act pertaining to copying music are basically about the machines, not about the copies. A computer, by the language of the act, is a 'prohibited' digital audio recorder that isn't to be 'manufactured, sold, or distributed' - big 'ha ha ha' on that one, of course. On the other hand, what is the status of media written (for personal use) from a 'prohibited' machine? It doesn't say, presumably because never thought anyone would be able to buy a prohibited machine on the mass market.

Of course, it's under the auspices of making a backup copy that people rip their CDs to computer in the first place, and then share them over the net - so, I'm sure certain powers-that-be would like to disallow even a single backup copy, thus effectively outlawing copying CDs to computer, thus thwarting downloads. But again, it's far far too late for that.

(Incidentally, in the U.S., you can make as many analog copies of your music as you want.)

OK, that was probably more than anybody needed to hear.

xo, math+
 
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