Is this jusfied?

[Bonofire]

If you buy a CD, is it ok to burn a copy for a friend, or to burn yourself an extra copy to take in the car so you can keep the good one inside and it won't get lost or damaged? Is it ok to make yourself a compilation of songs you already own, even if you download them to get them on your computer?

 

[Angela Harlem]

It's my view that if you purchase a cd, what you do with it after that for your own personal use is entirely up to you. Wallpaper your house with copies, if you so wish.

People will have different opinions on burning one for a friend because of the whole profit for artist thing.

 

[ClaytonMan]

Depends,
Its ok for your own personal use, giving it to a friend is a tricky one, having said that I have music that I would never originally buy given to me by friends,

I often get albums copied for me, and half of the time I end up buying them 3 4 months down the line.
The other half I keep but the likley hood is i would never listen to them again.

If someone gets albums from artists they love but never buy them thats a different matter.

 

[gareth brown]

If you buy a CD, is it ok to burn a copy for a friend, or to burn yourself an extra copy to take in the car so you can keep the good one inside and it won't get lost or damaged? Is it ok to make yourself a compilation of songs you already own, even if you download them to get them on your computer?

No, it's not. You can and will be arrested.

seriously, I agree completely with what Angela said, whatever you do with what you've paid for is entirely up to you...just copying for a friend will get people wagging their finger from their soapbox but very few are actually pure as the driven snow as they like to think they are when it comes to downloading. Here's a handy quote from Bono...

Originally said by Bono concerning the leak of HTDAAB
“It’s never nice to have a little thief in charge of your release campaign for your new album, however it up there. Our fans are not the kind of people who will really run amok with this, they want the CD, they want the download, they’ll go to apple iTunes or somewhere else where its fun and interesting and easy to download music.

“Bootlegs are fine if you’re making a few of them for your friends I've no problem with that but if its big business, bad ass crime, I don’t think you want to be a part of that – and that’s what this is. We’re dealing with some nasty people and I don’t think you should be paying for their summer holiday in Ibiza

I copy CDs all the time for my friends, I'm not saying that to try and look good or tip the argumentative scales my way...but it's just something I do, if I want people to check out a band I've been listening to a lot and won't shut up about, I'll copy them the album/single and just let them decide for themselves whether they want to buy it for themselves since I luckily have friends who don't fancy indulging in big-bucks piracy...

Nowadays I have iTunes which makes ripping and storing my albums a lot easier, meaning I'm gradually just lending the original albums rather than copying them to CD-R, which I suppose is [morally] better than just copying it and supposedly stealing from the artist. I was desperate to give 'The Joshua Tree' to my friend for her birthday, but it's sooo bloody expensive in shops in my area...CD-Rs were the only choice...! She said it wasn't her thing in the end

 

[80sU2isBest]

It's actually legal to make a copy for yourself, as it should be. Of course, not legal to copy for your friends.

 

[MrBrau1]

What if I make copies for myself, and accidently leave it at a friends house, or three. Can I be arrested for that?

 

[U2Kitten]

When I was a kid, and teenager, years before the internet as we know it, we always made copies of things for our friends. It was like, okay you have this ablum and I have that one, and our parents won't give us any money to buy any more, so I'll make you a cassette tape of this and trade you for you making me one of that? See, it's always been that way, it's only the RIAA that has recently made such a big stink over it. Even Bono once said that napster was really no different than 'home taping.' Honestly, who hasn't made a copy of something for a friend?

And if you already have the CD and paid for it, what's wrong with making yourself an extra for the car? My teenage niece does this with hers when she goes on band trips, because CDs get stolen so bad.

 

[gareth brown]

Haha! I have a couple of LPs that have that little campaign logo on it.

"HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC."

and that was before I was even born...and I grew up to understand the music industry's actually quite alright...

 

[indra]

When I buy a CD I almost always burn a "travel" copy for myself, as most of my CDs are imports and expensive (and sometimes really hard to find). Beyond that I will sometimes use a song or a few songs on a mix/sampler CD for friends, but I very, very rarely burn any complete copies for anyone else. If I do burn a complete CD for anyone it has to be someone I am comfortable will only use it for his/her own use, and the CD has to be out of print and not likely to be rereleased anytime in the next several years.

Most of the artists I like sell in the thousands, and if they are lucky, tens of thousands, units per release, so I feel that each sale is proportionally more important to the artists' bottom line than individual CD sales are to artists who sell huge quantities. So that feeling most certainly has an impact on my views on what is acceptable.

 

[Bonofire]

I don't think it's hurting anything as long as you aren't selling them. You should have a right to make a travel copy. If the friend wasn't going to buy the real CD anyway it's not taking any money away from anyone. Most songs people burn are stuff they kind of like but wouldn't buy anyway, so it's not like the artist is being robbed. It's more like taping it off the radio. Of course you'll never convince the RIAA of that

 

[indra]

. If the friend wasn't going to buy the real CD anyway it's not taking any money away from anyone.

To me, if the friend has no intention of buying the cd, he/she doesn't need it. (for entire cds)

A sampler/mix cd might pique interest in new artists and get the recipient to go buy some of the artists' work.

Again, I imagine it doesn't much matter to artists sell loads of albums, but it does to those selling small numbers. And for me it's also a question of who owns the work. Sure, you own the CD, but you don't own the right to distrubute the songs, just as someone who buys a painting owns the painting, but does not have the right to make reproductions of that painting, either to sell or to give away.

While a mix CD technically still violates that rule, it is much more in keeping with the spirit than burning a complete album.

Essentially each person has to decide what he/she is comfortable with.

 

[the tourist]

When I purchase something, it's mine. I don't want to have to buy it again. So it gets ripped into my computer. And the original sits in a case somewhere while the cdr of the album that I thusly make travels with me.

 

[VertigoGal]

My friends and I burn albums for each other all the time. However, if it's a new artist, who still qualifies as your starving artist, we try to buy them and support them financially. My copies of R&H, Pop, and Zooropa are burnt/downloaded, and I don't honestly feel bad. I know it's illegal, but I need the money more than them. Sorry. Same with my burnt Beatles albums, etc.

Technically though, I suppose that is wrong. However, all the other things you listed (burning yourself copies, etc) are perfectly legal as far as I'm aware.

 

[Eliv8]

I always make a copy for my car. I wanted to introduce some friends to Arcade Fire so I burnt 3 tracks and gave them out as 'samplers'. I figured if they like the tracks they would buy the CD. One already has.