I really should know this, but is ripping internet mp3's legal?

To Admin: if not Feel free to close and delete this post





http://stonedmonk.110mb.com/2007/01/...tallation.html

It is legal in my country.

Ahhh, but how about USA I wonder...

yes - as long as you OWN the original.

Well, if I owned the original I wouldn't need this would I :P

then you answered your own question.

Why wouldn't it be legal?

What's the difference between recording songs you hear from regular FM radio and this one? I don't see any.

See, yeah, that's what I'm saying, except I'm not sure. The laws are kinda funky and confusing around here.

But but but, that is illegal as well! Think of all the artists that can no longer afford gold plated bath tubs! You sick man, you!

ps. it's perfectly legal to rip/burn mp3s downloaded from eMusic, one of the few online music vendors worth supporting.

Your country sucks

The difference is the quality. The Industry is happy enough letting you carry around crap quality recordings, but once you get a digital copy that sounds like a cd (ok maybe you'll argue Pandora doesn't sound like a cd, but it sounds better than FM) they get upset.

I'm not sure if it's a quality argument. I just think the media content lobbies are trying to find new ways to make consumers pay for the same content. Copying a DVD to play on an iPod lowers the quality quite a bit, but the lobbies would much rather you pay a 2nd time to be able to play a movie on your iPod even if you own the original. It's all about making more money out of the same content.

The quality argument was one I've heard many places for why Cassette Tapes were not part of this war on duplicating music. Every time you made a copy the quality got worse. With digital, every time you make a copy the quality remains identical.

I remember wanting a song so badly when I was young, I actually took a blank casette and recorded it from a show on TV !

what song was that?

Something by the BeeGees ...

But in the days of cassettes our choices were so very limited...I was rummaging through some 'Stuff" left over from several moves and discovered a box of cassettes. Some withstood time (And moisture) most did not.

It's the same with cd's. Think of how much you may use a cd, and then with constant use, it will wear out; I was reading this in a magazine. They said that a cd has a 5-year lifespan. My quesion is, why does my version of Sim Tower work so perfectly at 11 years old?

Well, pc games don't actually run off the game, as I'm sure you know. What I'm getting at is, I wonder if the estimated lifespan is estimated including the amount of time the media is expected to be in use, or it's expected lifetime with it just sitting there. I remember seeing an article on burned cd's and it gave the lifespan of such to be between 2-5 years. I hardly find that accurate. So I guess I"m agreeing with your point and just adding a little.

Yeah that cant be right! The very first CD I ever bought was by Deep Purple. That was prbably 20 years ago! Although I havent pulled it out to have a listen in several years. I betcha' it still plays. I have never heard that 5 year life thing.