I've got a crate full of albums which I had accumulated over the years prior to Compact Disks being widely available, and I'm certain that I'm not alone in this dubious distinction. A non-trivial portion of them I've never been able to find on CD; this might mean that they were never released on CD (I don't know), or it might mean that they are out of print, or possibly, I didn't look diligently enough. In any case, I've paid for the privilege of listening to them. Like most people who bought albums, I did so because I enjoyed the performance. I'd like to continue to enjoy those performances - playing from my empeg.

As I understand it, there was a supreme court decision (years ago?) regarding recording. The gist of which is that you should be allowed to transcribe from one media format to another, and not be in violation of copyright law. I could be wrong about this; and if so, I'm certain someone will correct me. None the less, I should be allowed to record the performances for which I've paid to enjoy in a media format suitable to the reproduction technology. This is not at issue here. What is at issue is whether I own an officially sanctioned and duly taxed copy of said performance. I can honestly say I own a number of such copies; but lack the means to record it into the desired format (mp3).

So, let's say I 'bump' into someone who happens to own one of the albums I'm looking for on CD, we could trade albums for a day or two. Is this Illegal? On the surface, I would think not; after all, I've paid for my album and, presumably, the other person has paid for their CD. It could be argued that I've not paid for the same 'quality'* of recording as this other individual. But that is a whole other argument which has been hashed over (ad nauseum) in the 78RPM/8-Track/Cassette/Reel-Reel/LP arguments - long ago.

Suppose, instead of trading copies of a particular album, I ask this other person to rip/encode his CD copy. Is that illegal? Again, I don't have any reason to believe so. We both have paid for our copies of the same album.

Suppose, one final time, this other person wants this common album title in cassette format, and does not have the means to do so, but I do. They rip/encode, I record to cassette - we trade media, and go about our day to day lives. Have we violated copyright law? Again, I don't have a good reason to believe so.

I can't put my 'big 10 inch' record of my favorite blues into the 'LP drive' on my PC to rip/encode it into mp3 - those 'LP drives' just don't exist for a PC.

It's not so clear cut.

*) The issue of quality is not too different from the Chevy/Chrysler/Ford, Coke/Pepsi/RC, Burger King/McDonald's/Wendy's, etc. arguments - when all is said and done, they are still vehicles, colas and hamburgers - it's just that they are perceived differently.