cy1229 wrote:Back the digital, techno-mumbo-jumbo train up a bit. If I buy a cd and rip it to my computer to load to my MP3 player, I'm breaking the law?
I'm no law expert, but I have looked into the ripping of DVDs before. My understanding is that it is illegal to make programs that can break the DRM on a DVD, but it is not illegal to make a backup of the DVD (I'm guessing that includes using an "illegal" program to do it). I rip DVDs all the time, but only to watch on my iPod. It saves battery life not having to stream something, and I have it anywhere I go.
As for the CD ripping, I would assume it is legal, as long as you're not sharing the files you pulled off the CD or selling the CD to a used CD place and keep the files for yourself.
Hope that helps.
Here's what Wikipedia says about DVD ripping:
Circumvention of DVD copy protection
In the case where media contents are protected using some effective copy protection scheme, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute circumvention tools and use those tools for infringing purposes. In the 2009 case RealNetworks v. DVD CCA,[19] the final injunction reads, "while it may well be fair use for an individual consumer to store a backup copy of a personally owned DVD on that individual's computer, a federal law has nonetheless made it illegal to manufacture or traffic in a device or tool that permits a consumer to make such copies."[20] This case made clear that manufacturing and distribution of circumvention tools was illegal, but use of those tools for non-infringing purposes, including fair use purposes, was not.
The Librarian of Congress periodically issues rulings to exempt certain classes of works from the DMCA's prohibition on the circumvention of copy protection for non-infringing purposes. One such ruling in 2010 declared, among other things, that the Content Scramble System (CSS) commonly employed on commercial DVDs could be circumvented to enable non-infringing uses of the DVD's content.[21] The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) hailed the ruling as enabling DVD excerpts to be used for the well-established fair-use activities of criticism and commentary, and for the creation of derivative works by video remix artists.[22] However, the text of the ruling says the exemption can only be exercised by professional educators and their students, not the general public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_rippin ... protection