Copying a CD onto your iPod – are you breaking the law?

Of course it should!

And since you’re here, Mark McLaren, can you get involved again in the convo topics for nuisance calls and Sale of Goods Act?

We need market research calls to be opt in only

Call centres and sales companies shouldn’t use multiple names and telephone numbers to make sales and marketing calls

The Sale of Goods Act should be updated with longer warranties

The law should have been changed years ago, and not at a time when many have stopped buying CDs in favour of downloaded music. Clearly it should remain illegal to sell a CD and keep a copy of the music.

What is Which?’s position on books and format shifting of them?

Format shifting should be legalised. I knew it was/is illegal but do it anyway for personal use/backup.

We’re currently copying old VHS music videos to DVD because you can’t purchase them in DVD/BD format. ( If you could and, the price was right, we may well [and have in some cases] re-purchase[d] for the better quality as the old VHS tapes do have some drop-out, but many of these are not available on DVD. Some of those that we have found on DVD/BD are at ridiculous prices, way more than the original VHS price! )

Same for old vinyl records to CD.
Same for any other music/video that you’ve purchased for personal use.

It’s the software you are paying for. You shouldn’t be forced to repay just for different media or, face a possible threat of action when copying for personal use..

Btw. I hate piracy. It is theft. The original performers and producers should be paid for their efforts. But, you shouldn’t have to pay twice when you simply want to replay using different media. After all, I expect they don’t perform twice – once to record to CD and then again to record to mp3 for download!

Additionally, copying gives you the benefit of a back-up should any disaster strike.

As for format shifting books. My personal view: If it’s Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to electronic visual media or automated vocal recording for replay – It should be legal for personal use. If you choose to read aloud and record the audio, again fine, it’s your effort using software you’ve paid for – it should be legal for personal use.

This is one area where the outdated copyright legislation should definitely be revised.

yes of course this should be legal but it isnt an area where the law is being used contrary to Which members/consumers interests in practice, so hardly a priority. better to focus your efforts on where people are unprotected or where the law isnt working than non-issues? Is this Which attempting to ‘look good’ by appearing to influence [where there is already agreement the law needs updating and the topic is fashionable ie tech related] rather than spending time on things that affect a larger number of consumers more [even if many arent Which members] eg lack of real competition in the energy and banking sectors, lack of accountability for what services we get as consumers for our taxes, finding ways to stop uk govt [so us the taxpayer] being ripped off so much by big business.

as a start, why dont you annually write down and publish your priorities for improving thins for consumers, or indeed consult your members on what they want you to focus on…

“As long ago as 2006, the BPI, which represents the music industry, said it wanted to make it ‘unequivocally clear to the consumer that, if they copy their CDs for their private use in order to move music from format to format, we will not pursue them’.”

As long ago as 2006? I’m surprised it’s not as long ago as when we started being able to record our vinyls onto cassettes to be able listen to them in our cars!!

Anyway, what the BPI and the Government are saying is, the horse has bolted, it would cost us much more time and effort than it would be worth to even try to bring it back, and there’d be a revolution, so why bother to close the stable door now.

Not only do I format-shift material I have already bought, but I take the opportunity to clean it up. In some cases this involves a bit of painstaking work programming out scratches with clever software. In other cases…If I can buy a good quality replacement from a reputable source at a reasonable price, I do so. However, for hard-to-find stuff and stuff that’s out-of-print, I peer-to-peer-transfer a clean copy with a pretty clear conscience.

Copying purchased music has been going on for years ever since a means to do so was available – I remember my father copying vinyl records onto a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and I did the same onto cassettes and now to mp3.
With mp3 players now being incorporated into so many different aspects of daily life, from phones to cars, of course it should be legal to copy CDs one has paid for.

Horse has already bolted, no point spending too much time on this.

I first bought music on cassette, then LP, then CD. Now it’s all on mp3. Does the music industry really expect me to have bought the same stuff 4 times? If I’m buying the medium, then mp3 would be free. If I’m buying a license to listen to a particular song, then I shouldn’t have to pay for it for each medium.

It is not against the law to format shift; but you need a license to do it. Unfortunately, the initial PRS ProDub license costs around £250 for up to 5,000 tracks and then an annual top-up license is another £100 per 1,000 tracks.

This license is designed to allow DJs and such like to transfer their record/CD collections onto digital media, so they can operate from a laptop. Interesting to note that the rate for these “professionals” to format shift works out at only 5p-10p per track, so why is Joe Public expected to pay the full cost of the track for each medium?

I don’t understand it. Why do you all want to rip me and my brother off? We’ve never stolen anything from you. Hell’s bells, nobody minds you format shifting if you’re not planning on then selling off one of those formats, we’ve said so often enough, but the simple fact is, it’s impossible to reword the law so that it only applies to criminals.

I also have the need to convert AA to MP3, luckily I find a guide on how to convert AA to MP3.
It really works.
Hope it also helps for you.