Is CD-Ripping stealing or Fair Use?
by T. Colin Dodd
Who makes the call?
In fact, the RIAA does not recognize that you have a legal right under the Fair Use doctrine to rip your CDs into MP3s to listen to them on your computer or digital audio player.
When asked point blank today if the RIAA believes it is legal to make MP3s, spokeswoman Liz Kennedy refused to answer the question and instead sent this boilerplate text from the RIAA’s anti-piracy website:
[T]here’s no legal “right” to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:
The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
The copy is just for your personal use.
The RIAA has not and will not say that ripping MP3s for personal use from a lawfully purchased CD is legal, despite Sandoval’s lobbying for the group.
