Am considering getting two iPods. Idea is to build a music collection
from scratch with a second person in another city. If I added 10 songs
to my iPod, how would I then send the 10 songs to the other person to
add to his/her iPod, and visa versa?

What copyright and technical limitations would I run into, if any,
assuming all 10 songs are on original CDs purchased legitimately by
me, but not the other person?

What copyright and technical limitations would I run into, if any,
assuming all 10 songs are purchase via iTunes legitimately by me, but
not the other person?

If I rip a CD, purchased legitimately by me, and share the songs with
a friend, am I violating copyright laws?

Please do not copy and paste reams of website citations. I am seeking
comments from a knowledgable individual. I will not consider your
answer to be legal advice, just your good faith understanding.

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Clarification of Question by jim2003-ga on 14 Oct 2004 14:51 PDT

further note to ipfan-ga:  I am just trying to obey the law, not break
it. If "rip" has a perjorative meaning, I used it naively.

Here's an easy test: ask yourself if by your action you are depriving
the copyright owner of revenue.  If the answer is yes, it is likely
you are violating copyright.  For example, if you rip a CD and share
the files, the person(s) with whom you share the files do not have to
pay for the CD, and thus the copyright owner is deprived of revenue. 
Is there an expectation on the part of the copyright owner to derive
revenue from each additional copy of his or her work that is made?  If
the answer is yes, then it is very likely that by making an
unauthorized copy you are infringing copyright.  So, if you apply this
test to your above hypothetical, I think you can see the answer . . .

Clarification of my question:

Clarification #1: There are two parts to each question: 1) copyright
and 2) technical.

Clarification #2: I am well aware of basic copyright law. I am
interesteed in any exceptions that might arise from the iTunes user
agreement which grants multiple computer rights.

Sorry.  When you asked, "If I rip a CD, purchased legitimately by me,
and share the songs with a friend, am I violating copyright laws?," I
thought that was a question concerning, well, copyright law.  Can't
comment on the technical stuff, but I am sure an able Researcher will
step up.

So, pursuant to your clarification, I read the iTunes legal disclaimer
at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ that says, "iTunes is
licensed for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials or materials
the user is legally permitted to reproduce."  I also read the Terms of
Sale at http://www.info.apple.com/usen/itunes/policies.html, and they
provide, "Any burning or exporting capabilities are solely an
accommodation to you and shall not constitute a grant or waiver (or
other limitation or implication) of any rights of the copyright owners
of any content, sound recording, underlying musical composition or
artwork embodied in any Product."

I also read the entire "Software License Agreement for iTunes" that
you must agree to when you download the software.  It says
specifically, "This software may be used to reproduce materials.  It
is licensed to you only for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials,
materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are
authorized or legally permitted to reproduce."

So to answer your clarified question, no, there's nothing in the
iTunes user agreement(s) which gives you the right to rip a CD and
share the files with a friend using iTunes, unless (a) the material on
the CD is not protected by copyright; (b) you own the copyright to the
material on the CD; or(c) you have permission from the person that
owns the copyright in the material on the CD to make unauthorized
copies ("rip the files") and share them.

Thanks. That was very helpful, and I understand what you are saying.
You did a lot of work. I'll close this out and pay you the fee. you
may have to transfer your comment to an "answer", though. I'll repost
the technical questions under a different question.

Jim,

I wish that ipfan were an authorized Google Answers Researcher, but
that is not the case. You've received some excellent free help here.
Only official Researchers may post answers and receive compensation.

To tell a Researcher from a non-Researcher, look at the way the
username is displayed. Researchers' usernames are highlighted and
"clickable," while other site users' names are standard bold text.

Pinkfreud,

Thank you for the kind remarks.

Jim,

"Rip" does not have a perjorative meaning, necessarily.  It means, as
you know, to copy files from, e.g., a CD to, e.g., a hard drive.  It
might take on a perjorative overtone, however, given that most
"ripping" is done for purposes of file sharing, and many times the
files that are shared constitute unauthorized copies (since by ripping
the files to the HDD, you must, by defnition, copy them).  That may be
OK for making a backup, non-commercial, archival copy of a CD you
legitimately purchased or if you own the copyright in the content on
the CD or other source, but once you "rip and swap" using Grokster,
Kazaa, BitTorrent, eDonkey or, in your case, iTunes and an iPod, then
it gets dicey.  I saw your repost on the technical aspects--hope you
get an answer.

Cheers, 
ipfan

Jim,

I'd qualify ipfan's easy test slightly: You can violate copyright law
easily without depriving anyone of revenue. Example: If you hate
Brittney Spears and would never, ever, buy anthing of hers; and I buy
her CD and make a copy and give it to you, that's illegal even though
you wouldn't have bought the CD anyway.

Copyright law gives you certain rights when you purchase music (either
by download or by CD/tape/etc.) Things like the DMCA attempt to
violate those rights, and that's why copy-protected CDs should never,
ever be purchased.

basically, if you buy something (a book, a movie, a song, and album,
software, whatever) you are allowed to:
use it
make backup copies of it
transfer it to a different medium
loan it to someone
give it away
sell it
quote excertps, royalty-free, for the purposes of reviewing the media.
I think using it for education is also allowed royalty free, for
example, showing amovie in class, or photocopying a story for a class
to use.

What you are not allowed to do is have the things (whichever it is) be
in use in two places at once, or by two people at once.
For example, if I buy a book, I can make a photocopy of the whole
book, and just read that. But I can't legally sell the book, or give
it away, and still keep the copy to read. Same for a song. If I
download music, or buy a CD, I can copy it, 'rip' it to MP3, put it in
my MP3 player, transfer it to tape, and listen to it whereever I want.
I can loan the CD to a friend. I can sell the CD. I can't legally give
away the copy to a friend and keep the CD, or use the copies after
loaning or selling the CD.

The following all attempt to take away these rights:
music downloads that are locked to your computer.
ebooks that are only readable on one device
CDs that won't play in a computer or are otherwise locked from being copied
DVDs due to the built-in encryption.

Some authors have even suggested that they don't like the idea that a
library can buy one copy of their book and let 1000 people read it.
Imagine that! public Libraries are bad becuase they are stealing from
the authors by allowing people to read books without buying them.

Things like DMCA circumvent this by saying - that's fine and dandy.
You can go ahead and copy it. But, it's encrypted. Oh yeah, trying to
break the encryption is illigal. Amd so is telling people about how to
break it. Criminal illegal, not civil. To date, most applications of
the DMCA have been used to prevent people from either excercising
their rights, or to prevent criticism. Like explaining why a security
feature is easy to break, is ilegal under DMCA.

These rights are your and you have to stand up for them. basically we
have these rights in return for the copyright owner getting x number
of years where nobody is allowed to make unauthorized copies for
distribution.

As for the technical side of your qeustion, I don't know for sure
about ipod to ipod trasnfer, but the simplest way to get your music to
each otehr would be emailing the files back and forth, connecting your
computers over the internet or using a shared web storage space (like
idisk type service) or simply burning the MP3s to CD and giving each
other your CDs.

sparky4ca-ga