Legally sharing songs stored in iTunes

[rschleicher]

Can someone summarize the practical aspects of legally sharing songs that are stored in iTunes?

I want to understand two separate cases:

1. Songs that I have ripped myself, from CDs that I own, but in AAC format, that are in my iTunes Library.

2. Songs that I have purchased (also in AAC format) from the iTunes music store.

Some of my newbie questions are:

- For songs where I own the "original" CD, is it legal to send a copy of the AAC file to someone else? If so, how many times? Is it simply a matter of copying the file from within the iTunes file folder structure on my computer? Does the iTunes SW impose any limits on doing this, when the file was ripped from my own CD?

- How are the legalities and procedure different, if I originally bought the song file from the iTunes music store?

The specific thing that I am most interested in doing is sending songs ripped from my CDs to my daughter and son, and in some cases, having them send me songs ripped from their CDs (since they are away at school). I understand that they could be ripped using some non-iTunes SW, in MP3 mode, but it would be easier to just deal with the AAC files that we already have on our respective computers. Secondarily, if buying a song from iTunes music store gives you the right to more than one copy of the file, then I wouldn't mind sharing those with family members as well. But, I have no desire or intention to do anything illegal, or in violation of copywrite protection, etc.

 

[MDS]

If you rip the file yourself, no DRM (Digital Rights Managment) wrapper is added to the file. You can do whatever you want with it - you don't need iTunes or any other software to copy it, you can just use Windows Explorer or the command line to copy the file to any other media or burn it to a CD.

When you buy songs from the iTunes music store, they are wrapped in Apple's DRM wrapper called 'FairPlay'. You can only use iTunes to play them and that is where the limited number of copies comes in. You must 'authorize' a number of computers for playback (I believe the limit is now 5) and the software will limit the number of times you can copy or burn the files to disc.

As for the legality of sharing with family and friends: most of that should be allowed by the fair use rules. I wouldn't worry about sharing with your kids. From the title of your post, I had thought you would mean uploading the songs to some server where lots of people could 'share' them and that is clearly illegal. But burning a copy of a CD or making a compilation CD with songs from other CDs you have legally purchased and sharing them with your family is ok - just don't make dozens of copies and sell them as that would clearly be illegal.

 

[CaliHwyPatrol]

To get around the purchased music DRM, burn the song to a cd, then copy it to your computer again.

~Chuck

 

[GlocksRock]

DRM is stupid, anyone with half a brain could figure out how to get around it.

 

[MDS]

DRM is stupid, anyone with half a brain could figure out how to get around it.

So how soon can we expect code from you that will strip off the DRM wrapper?

Unfortunately, some of the members of my team are working on DRM. They all have full brains and I can assure you that nobody with half a brain will be able to get around it.

Note that if you burn a copy to CD and then re-rip it you had better keep it in WAV format. If you re-encode it to any lossy format, you will lose even more quality as you will be encoding music that has already been compressed.

 

[rschleicher]

MDS,

Thanks for your reply/answers. As I had tried to make clear in my original post, my questions were more about what I was "allowed" to do, within the rules, so to speak, rather than about how to get around the DRM.

I suppose there is some legitimate gray area here, where the particular DRM implementation might make it at least somewhat harder to do even legal sharing.

I had heard previously that Apple's DRM for purchased iTunes music allowed up to five computers, but I wasn't sure how that actually worked in practice.

 

[birdonthebeach]

For the record, copying CD's you have bought, and burning CD's or passing MP3's of the songs is illegal. It is no different from stealing a CD from the record store and giving it to your buddy. (Burning CD's for your car or for your kids to use at the house is fair use) But when you think about it, it is not a complicated issue. Stealing is stealing, whether it is a piece of gum or a song. For some reason, technology seems to have confused some people in the press and on the net. That is why I suggest thinking of it in practical, common sense terms. Would you hide a CD in your coat to take it out of the store without paying for it?

Not trying to sound preachy, but many of my friends are songwriters and music biz types. Even if they (the record industry suits) have made some stupid mistakes and drug their feet resisting technology, it still does not make it right to steal music.