Downloading, copyright and back-ups

[Roadkill]

I was wondering if anyone knew the postion on downloading 'back-ups' for media you already own.

My understanding is that if I put a CD in to the mac and copy it to itunes that's ok.

What if I chose to download it? Do I already have the right to do this by owning the original?

More importantly (for me) what about Video and DVD? Can I back-up my entire library legally and does it matter how I do it?

What about format - Video, Bluray, DVD?

Thanks in advance. Roadkill.

 

[twowheelsgood]

I dunno about this one. I've downloaded lossless CDs for CDs that I own that have become unreadable. Whether it's legal or not I certainly feel no guilt for it.

As for backing up video. There are two things at work here. One is "fair use" regulation which does allow you to back-up, the other is that you aren't technically allowed to circumvent protection measures. As all DVDs usually contain CSS, most rippers usually use DeCSS. Again I persoanlly have now qualms with this my DVD are all backed to H264, which is easy on PC or Mac with Handbrake, the movie setting (2MBits) is fine. You end up with a file 1-1.5GB which is easy to store on hard disk or you can get 3 per DVDR.

 

[Roadkill]

I agree on the guilt front - I've owned some tracks on 3 or 4 formats...

Ideally I'd like to transfer it all to digital and bin the 'hard copies' but how do I then prove ownership?

I'll probably go ahead and do it anyway - I think it's morally acceptable... if not completely to the liking of Sony et al....

 

[dustystreet]

i think the chances of someone knocking on my door to see what i've got on my external backup hard drive are less than 0 so as not to bother about feeling guilty about backing up all my cd's and dvd's.

ok, maybe the chances are more than 0 but certainly less than 1 and closer to the 0 mark.