DVD Ripping via Encoding

You are correct. I've changed the text.

Remember, you don't own the rights to the disc or the music on it... according to the industry, you simply own the disc which is a "license" to play the music. I don't agree with this concept, but on the other hand, if you own the rights to the music, then every owner would be "allowed" to copy the disc and distribute it (by the letter of the law). You cannot have rights to the music.

However, in the grand scheme of things, they should have provided you with a replacement disc... it's just shooting themselves in the foot if they don't... but they ARE pretty good at that.

I agree, but allow me to expand a bit. The industry continues to "say" that backups are acceptable, yet they continually create technologies that prevent this activity. IMO, if they were to protect their CDs, and then give me a way to back it up, I would accept that solution... but they don't want to take the extra step. They feel it's their right to protect themselves, while trampling your right to make a backup.

Also note that we (consumers) are allowed to make backups legally only through implication - ie, it's not illegal to make a backup, but nowhere are we explicity given the RIGHT to make one. So, since we have no law protecting our ability to backup, they simply feel they can change the rules we have been "granted" all along. Sick and twisted, no doubt.

There are some efforts in congress to create explicit laws protecting such existing rights that we have been granted (through precendent) but with the lawmakers well-paid by these industries, I doubt consumers will have a chance... what ever happened to "by the people, for the people"?

No, you do own rights to the music you purchase. They are personal use rights which include playing it privately and personal backup (personal backup is the thing people ussually refer to when they mention the "fair use" clause, which is a documented law, party of the US copy right act, not just a president). You own the rights to listen to the music privately, as many times as you want, forever. The embodyment of this "liscence" into the physical incarnation of the medium is merely to say who owns the liscence. If the original medium is in your posession, you own personal use liscence for the content on that disk. If you scratch the hell out of the disk so that it is unplayable, it is completely legal for you to obtain another copy (from a "freind", commonly p2p networks. It's not illegal to download a copy-righted peice of property that you own the copy-right to) or to use your "backup" copy. You're not supposed to use both copies at the same time. For example: if you made a copy to listen to in your car or loan to a friend while, at the same time, someone was listening to it at home, that would be copy-right infrigment, you need a second liscence.

As a side note a personal use liscence does not cover playing it publicly at all Ie: at a party that charges money or is otherwise open to the public, as background music at a restraunt, as elevator "musak" at a store or... in an elevator (ever wonder why musak is so crappy? It's because they choose music that is cheap to get a "public performance" liscense for), on the Radio, TV, or even walking around playing it on a getto blaster. You do not have a liscence to play the music for a public audience. Such liscences are generally very expensive and only sold as "suites" of liscences (ie: you could buy a liscence to play any song by a consortium of record publishers. That's what radio stations do. The radio station doesn't have to buy copies of the cds (they ussually get sent a large volume of free "promo" cds every month, but they can make a copy of a "personal use" cd if they want), their systems are ussually entirely digital anyway. Any way they can get ahold of the music is perfectly acceptable because they own the liscence to it. Many small stores and restraunts ignore this and play copy righted music without obtaining public performance liscenses, but it is very much illegal.

What is this "ripping digital copies of DVDs is illegal in the U.S." business? When was the copy right law amended to specify what kind of backup copy you could make? An analouge copy of a DVD is not a backup copy at all. What about the menues? Special features? Subtitles? I own rights to all of those things; I'm allowed to back them up. As TheGreatGrapeApe pointed out: they studios aren't going to back them up for you (ie: supply replacement copies in any way). And even if they did: the studio could go belly up but I would still own the rights to the content I purchased which included the right to preserve them so I could listen to them later.

These new rules of
- how many times you can play something
- how long you can play someing ("expiration dates" )
- how many devices can have a copy on them
- how many copies can be made
- who you can and can't share a copy with (DRMed P2P networks)
are all completely new DRM-inspired ideas with no legal president. Just because the recording industry says they crippled your personal use liscence and required you to "agree" to the new crippled liscence doesn't mean it's actually legal for them do have done so. It could, in fact, be copy right infrigment. OUR copy rights.

As another side note: there is no "personal use" clause in the EU is there? Copying a cd to a portable mp3 player is illegal. Unless they changed their copy right laws in the last couple of years without me noticing... which is entirely possible.

This topic has been closed by Reynod