This is a question regarding the personal recording of vinyl to digital. I believe it was tested in the courts and upheld whereby an individual could record vinyl (at the time to tape). What is the consensus on the legality to record vinyl to digital. Ok, that question is likely a simple yes, it is ok. Here's the real question I'm getting to: let's say I record a perfect vinyl album (some of these could include super high quality 45 rpm remasters) to DSD at the highest quality possible, may I share it legally with a friend whom I am absolutely certain owns a legal copy (whether CD or Vinyl) of the material?
I think (think being operative here) that it is legal as long you make a recording for your personnal use only. Once you hand a copy to a freind it infringes on the artist as a copy that would have been sold and there for you have stolen a sale. How ever I think you ould loan it to your friend with the discloseure that they must return it. And again it just my interpretation of the law. My legal education includes movies and TV and a few traffic violations. The preceding was a opinion at best and no liability is assumed for the subsequent actions of any party witnessing these words and choosing to act upon these words as legal advice. Sincerley Theo Not attorney at law
However Ghasley has said that the other person also owns a purchased copy of the same album. That has not meant that the record company has missed out on a sale.
Under those circumstances, and the assumption that the super-dooper digtal copy did not get exchanged for a consideration (ie there was no benefit to the issuer of the super-dooper digital copy being given to the other person, e.g money changes hands or he says that he'd mow the lawn for the next 3 weeks) then in my interpretation of the situation there would be no breach of the intent of the law.
I am not a qualified legal practitioner and you can't rely on my interpretation of any laws.
What I do know is that none of us owns the music we purchase regardless of format, we only purchase a perpetual license to listen and non-monetarily share or make copies under strict non-profitable terms and conditions by the publisher. Also, the public playback of published music is subject to these same terms and conditions. Yes, you do own the piece of vinyl or the aluminum coated with polycarbonate disc, but you do not own the content on it. There has always been the issue of how this is managed when buying used CDs and records, the consensus being that the license was already taken by the original purchaser and is simply being transfered to the new owner in the preowned-media sale. I am not a lawyer but a licensing professional. Counsel may wish to weigh in here.
Even if your friend owns a legal copy of the work, giving him a non-legally purchased copy is an infringement of the copyright holder's interest. When you purchased the record you did not buy a license to distribute the music on the record in alternate formats. It doesn't matter whether money is involved in the exchange.
Thanks for the replies. My initial feelings on this issue were closest to what Elizabeth so eloquently stated. I originally told my buddy that he could bring his albums over and record them for his use only. It does create an ironic inflection point whereby fair use of the purchased analog record could/might be superceded by the Digital Copyright Act...or vice versa. Who knows and I assure you I don't care enough about this potential pitfall to be a test case!
Mike, excellent question. He has a decent copy of "Green Street" by Grant Green on Blue Note. A good recording on decent vinyl....several scratches but nothing out of the ordinary. I have the Hoffman/Gray Acoustech remastered reissue from Blue note on 200g vinyl 45 rpm. I ripped my copy to my computer using DSD and then ripped it down to multiple sample rates to see if I could hear a material difference. I enlisted his ears to assist me....not really a blind test but he didnt know which version was playing. He was astounded at every sample rate and asked me to give him the files. We then discussed the slippery slope. We jointly surmised that to follow the letter of the law, he would need to "borrow" my album and its "digital archive" for evaluation in his system.
Now i have no intention of distributing digital copies of my music to anyone but i dont see anything wrong with loaning them mine or assisting them by recording their album. In this case what really caused me to pause, and a key fact that i intentionally did not mention initially in this posting, was that I would believe my remastered Grant Green album to be a "different" recording than what he has. It just started me thinking and i thought i would pose the question to the audiophile community and get some broad, generic input. Regards
I think the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is supposed to cover more modern techniques available. A lot on Google about it. From what I remember, you can make a digital copy for yourself. When I bought my CD recorders, and they let you make a bit perfect copy for yourself. Those recorders use CD-R music discs, and a digital copy cannot be made from it. They have a copy guard. Commercial recorders don't! These use the standard CD-R data discs that are cheaper (no copy-guard), and a digital copy can be made from it (copy of a copy) in digital I believe. We pay more for the CD-R music with copy-guard too. Giving it away may be risky. Money made makes it a nightmare for you. I wouldn't give any away myself. They may still be litigating over defining the laws. Play it safe. I'm not a lawyer. Now they want us to download it for direct profit, and if your harddrive goes bad, mechanical or solid state, they get to sell you everything again. Stockpile. Turn into a CD/record hoarder. LOL. Play it safe. I'm not a lawyer, and may be crazy.
the original cd recorders did not have copy guard. I use an older Sony to record my vinyl to for use in the car and to transfer to Itunes and can make as many copies as I like.
Manitunc,what is the model number of your Sony recorder? Can it us CD-R data discs? All of mine require CD-R music. It would be nice to use regular CD-R's. Mine will make extra copies, but a copy made off of the first copy gives me an analog transfer. If I would stick the copy in my Pioneer, I get an analog copy also. Same with the Philips. Then they had a commercial (Marantz?) that could do it without copy guard all day long. If someone wanted to bootleg them, this would be ideal. And may be heavier built, to make a bootlegger happier. The Sony gives a real decent A/D converter in it. No need for an outboard A/D with it. Better that the other two, and a Denon I tried. They are great for the car, and changer in the bedroom. Thanks.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
