Australia to "decriminalise" converting cds to mp3s

damien

http://entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,17673408-10431,00.html

The Federal Government will next year legalise the video recording of television shows for personal use, and the transfer of songs from CDs to MP3 players, in a bid to overturn a ban which has made criminals of much of the population.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has flagged tidying up copyright laws by adding fair-use loopholes that will clear the way for private citizens to copy the content without breaking the law.

But yet to be decided is whether a levy will be slapped on the store price of blank CDs and MP3 players, such as iPods, to compensate artists for the revenue they stand to lose under the new laws.

Though the practice is widespread, it remains illegal to convert a CD to MP3 format for playing on an iPod

Pa ElGrande

This is something we need to take action on in Ireland, by framing the concept of fair use into our copyright legislation to recognise activities like coverting your media from one format to another and peer media exchange.