Record Industry Goes After Personal Use

Excerpt from WashingtonPost.com

Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing. Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave of letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment and threatening a legal battle.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer. The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

RIAA's hard-line position seems clear. Its Web site says: "If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you're stealing. You're breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages."

10 Things You Shouldn't Buy New

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, I am including Liz Weston's MSN Money article that provides advice on the other end of the consumer sprectrum - 10 Things You Shouldn't Buy New. Again, here is the list of items (in no particular order):

1. Books
2. DVDs & CDs
3. Little kids' toys
4. Jewelry
5. Sports equipment
6. Timeshares
7. Cars
8. Software & console games
9. Office furniture
10. Hand tools

As with the previous list, Weston includes exceptions and valuable advice on when buying new is actually better. Again, I have a minor objection to some of the advice Liz offers readers.
As someone who has used hand tools for every ounce I could get out of them, I would disagree that buying used hand tools is a smart choice. By the time many of them make it to the flea market or pawn shop, they are completely worn out. As with some other items, it's also nice to have a warranty on hand tools. We all know things break -- that's why we need many of our hand tools in the first place.