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February 2006 Audio & Music Bulletin Volume 12 Issue 1 Official Newsletter of the Audiophile Society of New South Wales |
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February 2006 Audio & Music Bulletin Volume 12 Issue 1 Official Newsletter of the Audiophile Society of New South Wales |
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Audiophile Opinion: It Is Illegal to Copy CDs
I recall a couple of conversations I have had recently. A colleague had 20 GB of music given to him by a friend, on iPOD format, which equates to about 6500 songs. He was attempting to convince me to get it; even after telling him up front that I was a “tube and vinyl man”, and “I don’t want to listen to crap MP3 sound”, after several minutes of rabbiting on, he still said,” It sounds pretty good.” Someone wasn’t listening, and it was not me. I subsequently asked him how many of those songs he would actually listen to; his reply was about 100, which was the figure I guessed he would come up with. He also said that it was handy to have the rest; this is called a music collection, and between my pop and jazz LPs, I would have more songs than these. I suppose that on computer speakers, it does not make a great deal of difference.
The second case was another colleague, who offered to burn a CD of the music I liked. I politely declined, for 2 reasons; firstly most of the works are in my collection, and secondly, the CD would be in MP3 format.
On the third instance was when another colleague asked me to burn a copy of Sade’s Diamond life. This will not happen, as firstly, I do not have an audio CD burner, and secondly, old titles like these are readily available for as low as $10.
What does the law say? I checked this out with a friend, who is a lawyer with expertise in copyright law. You are allowed to make “one copy for personal use”, which precludes you making copies for friends, or for commercial resale.
The recording industry is suffering because of internet downloads. So, if you like an artist, or particular music, please buy original LPs or CDs; or if you must download, use artist-approved legal sites, so that these artists will receive the appropriate royalties for their creative work.
In conclusion, by all means enjoy your music; however we must not in any way deprive those who make it.
Stephen Chen
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