Er... what about people who take songs from their CDs and dub them onto tapes? Are they committing acts of piracy as well?

This is an interesting point of legality. If the RIAA had their way, they'd make that illegal, too. As I recall, they even tried, once upon a time. They can't, though, because we won't let them. Like I said, the RIAA can't make the laws, they can only propose them. It's up to the voters to pass the laws.

Does anyone have more details on exactly which law it is that allows home users to make their own copies of movies and music? It's a specific law, I just don't remember its name or when it was passed. It's that very law that allows the VCR and audio cassette markets to flourish.

In articles I have read on wired.com, RIAA has held the explicit position that recording a song from CD onto your hard drive in MP3 format is a violation of copyright law and act of piracy. RIAA says that they simply have not chosen to prosecute such acts at this time.

Again, the RIAA is trying to throw their weight around, and bullying companies into submission. There's no way that making an MP3 of your own CD can be illegal in any way. The RIAA has no legal leg to stand on there. If the RIAA is saying "it's illegal, but we're just choosing not to prosecute", they're just bullshitting and trying to scare us. Making an MP3 is just like dubbing a tape, or burning a duplicate (or a mix) CD. The law is not broken until you give that copy to someone else.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144