Downloading music from internet question

[timNms]

I've been hearing about people getting into trouble because they downloaded music from places such as Kazaa. Just curious to know if anyone knows what the law says about such? And, what is the difference in doing that and taping a song off of the radio? Same with videos...what's the difference in taping a program/video off the tv or downloading it from the internet? The thing that made me think about this was earlier tonight I was watching a program on Discovery. At the end it said you could purchase a VHS tape of the program for something like $29.00...I thought "Why purchase it when you could put a blank tape in the vcr and record it LOL."

[CajunMama]

I do know if you have HBO, SHO, PPV or any premium cable channels like that which you are paying for you are legally able to tape a movie for private use only.

[GalvestonDuck]

Tim, if I understand correctly, the music and motion picture industry's main concerns about music downloading is because the media is still in pure digital format. Therefore, it can be copied, distributed, traded, and/or sold in its purest form. And it's not so much a matter of us having copies, but it's that the peer-to-peer distributors (users like you and me and whoever who "share" files through Kazaa and so forth) are circumventing copyright laws and royalties obligations by which legitimate distributors must abide.

Cassette recordings of music from the radio and VHS recordings of TV shows and movies fall under the "authorized use" category as long as you obtain it for private home viewing only without collection of fees for admission and without redistributing it. Furthermore, the copies lack the same quality as digital copies, which are in the pure form of the original. And if they are distributed, the copies of the copies lose even more quality. Our eyes and ears probably don't see it, but it's there.

[ColdFront77]

I wouldn't think "VCR+ code numbers" would exist, but television stations are adament about not copying their programs.

[coriolis]

SHIVER ME TIMBERS!!!!

[timNms]

Thanks Duck. That made sense.

[Arizwx]

Kazaa is FULL of Virus files!
Be careful!Same goes for the Movie download 'Limewire'.
Just a head's up.

[timNms]

Kazaa is FULL of Virus files!
Be careful!Same goes for the Movie download 'Limewire'.
Just a head's up.

I don't have Kazaa. I had it on my old computer, but got rid of it because of the problems it caused.
I was just curious about the trouble one could get into because of downloading and sharing music and video thru sources such as Kazaa and why it was different from using the VCR or tape recorder.