Well, I did some hunting around on the legality of ripping one's own CDs to MP3 and I unhelpfully get conflicting opinions/positions on the matter.
The EFF website takes a citizen-rights-leaning perspective: http://www.eff.org/IP/eff_fair_use_faq.php "Although the legal basis is not completely settled, many lawyers believe that the following (and many other uses) are also fair uses: * Space-shifting or format-shifting - that is, taking content you own in one format and putting it into another format, for personal, non-commercial use. For instance, "ripping" an audio CD (that is, making an MP3-format version of an audio CD that you already own) is considered fair use by many lawyers, based on the 1984 Betamax decision and the 1999 Rio MP3 player decision (RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia, 180 F. 3d 1072, 1079, 9th Circ. 1999.) * Making a personal back-up copy of content you own - for instance, burning a copy of an audio CD you own." And from IP Justice: http://ipjustice.org/wp/2007/02/22/karaoke_legal_myths/ "When the recording industry tried to outlaw MP3 players upon their introduction to the market in 1999 because they permit digital copies of music on computers, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held that consumers have a fair use right to "space-shift" their copyrighted music to another device, such as a hard drive or other digital storage device.3 In the Diamond Rio case, the court ruled that space-shifting (or format-shifting) of music was similar to time-shifting of video recordings, something recognized by the US Supreme Court to be a lawful fair use in the famous 1984 Sony Betamax decision.4 Relying on the Sony Betamax precedent, the court in the Diamond Rio case found the digital storage of music to be lawful fair use. The court held that this type of format conversion fell within the personal use right of consumers to make analog or digital copies of copyrighted music for private noncommercial use. The Diamond Rio case established consumers' right to digitize their music collections onto their computer hard drives and MP3 players." So, in a nutshell, I think it's fairly well settled that personal ripping is fine under current interpretations of fair use. Once you start giving copies to friends or uploading them to BT, however, fair use no longer applies since you've trod into the dangerous waters of "distribution". HTH. - Craig
