By Mike King
If you have purchased a CD, you have every right to copy that CD onto any medium you want, if it is for your personal use. This has not changed from the time of vinyl records being transferred to reel-to-reel tape.
Technically, you are allowed by law to make copies of CDs that you already own, and are not allowed to rip CDs from libraries. It’s the same premise behind not copying DVDs or VHS movies from Blockbuster.
The problem these days is with the different DRM (digital rights management) codes that online distributors wrap these files in. Different players are not compatible with different DRM. Microsoft uses Windows Media DRM, Apple uses Fair Play, Real Networks uses Helix, etc. As a result, music purchased on iTunes does not work in a Windows Media environment, and vice versa. So basically, if you buy an iPod it will not play music that is not purchased on iTunes. This is a major problem that I feel is alienating the casual consumer.
The information in this tip originally appeared in the Digital Music Made Easy online class discussion.
