According to the top lawyer for Sony/BMG Music, if you make a copy for yourself of a CD you purchased, you are stealing that music and breaking the law. "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song. Making 'a copy' of a purchased song is just 'a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'," she said.She then went on to suggest "that consumers have no right to make backups of the music that they have purchased in CD form or even in download form."
Uh huh. So, according to the music business (emphasis on business), if you rip a purchased CD onto your ipod or desktop, you have just committed theft, could be prosecuted, and are responsible for countless record label executives being unable to feed their families. Feel bad? I didn't think so.
Wow...I feel awful. Especially for those times when I burned CDs that were almost to the point where they were almost unplayable due to excessive playing (read Prince's 'Sign O' the Times', Garbage's 'Version 2.0' and Radiohead's 'OK Computer').
ReplyDeleteSo - if you're a prudent investor and make a backup of your $40 Magnetic Fields' '69 Love Songs' CD or Velvet Underground boxed set - you've committed a crime. I better start bulking up for my prison term. I heard you have to punch out the most powerful guy in prison on your first day if you want to get any cred.
Yeah, you don't want to be someone's bitch. It's hard to look tough in the yard with killers and rapists, when you're in jail for copying your own CDs.
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