The bottom line is as follows: if you don't own the copyright
to a piece of music or you are unsure of who does, you had better
check it out, get proper legal advice, and be certain that you are
not violating any laws that could serve to cause you legal problems
down the road. And what about downloading files that other people
have posted illegally? Simple: if you know the files are pirated
before you download them, you're stealing. It's not
likely you'll get caught, and it's more important for
labels to find distributors than downloaders. But it doesn't
make it legal or right.
It is, however, completely legal to make MP3 copies from a CD for
personal use -- you have the right to time-shift, space-shift, and
media-shift playback of music you own (for the same reason it's
legal to tape an LP so you can listen to it in the car). You purchase
this right when you purchase the record/tape/CD. You should always
check with the latest legal rulings regarding copying issues and MP3,
and when in doubt, seek the advice of a legal professional. However,
it is definitely illegal to encode MP3 files from a CD and trade them
with others over the Internet unless you have the express permission
of the copyright holder. Keep in mind that piracy laws precede MP3 by
decades, and copyright laws are written right into the Constitution
of the U.S. Most of the legal "questions" in MP3 land are
not new -- just more prevalent.
The actions of the RIAA have ranged from systematic, court-assisted
shutdowns of web sites that illegally post copyrighted MP3 files, to
the attack of the owners and creators of MP3 web sites and equipment
manufacturers. For example, the RIAA once filed suit against Diamond
over their Rio player, claiming that it encouraged piracy. The RIAA
lost that battle, because the courts found that the Rio is not a
recording device but merely a storage unit. And because Diamond was
careful to build the unit so that files could be put in but not taken
out again, it was nearly impossible to use the device for swapping
files. In fact, this decision has shaped the whole arena of MP3
hardware, none of which makes it easy to transfer files from playback
devices to other devices. However, the advent of flash memory cards
has again introduced gray areas into the conversation, since people
can easily swap memory cards. Still, the devices qualify as storage
units and not recording units.