Copyright Law, the interpretation of Options

[sadolakced acid]

Alright, let's keep this a debate, not just stating opinions. that's important.
don't just state your opinion, support it

alright. here's some background

Copyright law prohibits the copying of Digital audio for commercial use. Copying of audio for personal use is allowed, but only first generation copies may be made (copies of the original) second generation copies are illegal (copies of copies). however, computers allow this, and thus the RIAA has said that using your computer to copy digital audio, no matter first or second gen. copies, is illegal. this was ruled as incorrect and not what the law says by a court.

First off, the obvious, is whether or not ripping your CDs to MP3s is illegal

also, is downloading music from online illegal? (copyright law only mentions distributing, not taking)

and, do new CDs that prevent ripping to MP3s, and DRM (digital rights management) WMAs violate the user right to copy?

[azn_r4pf4n]

im not statin my opinion here, i'm just stating the main issue.

The RIAA was established to help the artists/bands prevent music piracy. Music piracy is a big issue and probably will remain a big issue as technology advances.

The big issue here is basically an issue for many other issues: fairness.
Like taxes, everybody argues for the fair amount of taxes. But for music, the RIAA trys to make it fair for the artists/bands to get the amount of money they deserve from selling their music by preventing the distribution of free music around the internet. But here's the other side of it: The people who download music for free don't think it's fair because they claim they're too cheap to buy the music themselves.

Copyright laws prevent music piracy, but as usual, still people download music off the internet for free.