creating backup copies of copyrighted material - how many people REALLY do this?!

[joecool]

just curious how many of you have ever actually made a backup copy of copyrighted material (software, cd, dvd, etc) strictly for yourself and not to "lend" to a friend, or "borrow" from a friend for yourself. it seems like a legitimate need to me but i've never actually done it and it's never been a problem - i've never had a software cd become unreadable, or a music disc for that matter. it also seems like a lot of trouble, given the time it would take and the need to store all those backup discs (i'd have hundreds!). frankly, it's my belief that the whole "backup" concept is a scam and an excuse for people who are actually burning illegal copies to give to friends, or getting illegal copies from friends.

comments?

-joe

(btw, i have myself have been known to use an occasional piece of "borrowed" software in the past ... but over time i got tired of the hassle of getting updates and the lack of support. currently i'm completely legal and plan to stay that way.)

 

[mbackof]

I backup CDs all of the time. I have around 700 CDs (all are originals, no copies) and I spend about 3 hours in the car every day. The CD player in the car eats CDs. The transport mechanism tends to scratch disks. So I make copies and compilations of my CDs to keep in the car. Once they are eaten, I create another copy. This way my CDs at the house continue to play and don't get scratched. This isn't a problem for my home CD players, they don't scratch the disks.
Now if I had a DVD Burner I might be pursuing a less honest course of action.

Mike

 

[joecool]

i do have to admit that i recently had a personal dvd player scratch three discs to the point where they skipped. i was contemplating backing up all my dvd's but i was able to determine what was damaging the discs and fix it, and i found a company that refinishes damaged discs for a modest price. all three discs are now back in action and i'm going to be a lot more observant of what my players are doing to my discs in the future, but it still doesn't seem worth the time and expense to backup everything. my home dvd player, which is now 4 years old, hasn't once damaged a disk, and neither have any of pc's.

 

[Rockhound]

Would it be worth your time if your CD's were ripped off from your car? Probably wouldn't care as much if you made copies and they were stolen. But it is a legitimate concern as I personally had about 65 original CD's stolen from my car. I kept saying to myself, I have to make copies of all these someday. Well, I didn't and ended up paying for it. Some of which aren't in production anymore. So yea, why shouldn't you be able to? Nobody but you is going to pay to replace them all if something happens to them.

 

[P.O.W.]

I make backups of all the cd's my kids use on thier PC and keep the originals tucked away. The kids have a tendency to leave cds lying around and end up stepping on them.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Rockhound
Would it be worth your time if your CD's were ripped off from your car? Probably wouldn't care as much if you made copies and they were stolen. But it is a legitimate concern as I personally had about 65 original CD's stolen from my car. I kept saying to myself, I have to make copies of all these someday. Well, I didn't and ended up paying for it. Some of which aren't in production anymore. So yea, why shouldn't you be able to? Nobody but you is going to pay to replace them all if something happens to them.

Yeah, I make backups of the audio CDs I buy and leave them in my car. If my CDs ever get scratched or stolen, I have the originals at home so I can reburn them.

 

[Sunner]

I do it all the time.
I've had enough original CD's(music and data alike) getting scratched/cracked beyond usability to make ti worthwhile.
Granted, alot of it is my fault for leaving the CD's in bad places and such.

Copy protections annoy the crap out of me for this reason, but of course I do understand why game makers feel the need to copy protect their CD's.
Of course for just about any online game, I think reg codes are a good way to do it without copy protections, works better and isn't a PITS for legal users.

 

[joecool]

interesting, i'd never really thought about cd's in my car, but you make a good point - using the copies means it doesn't matter if they get swiped, or melt, or scratched. think i might start doing that myself ...

but what about software and dvd's? not a single comment on that yet. anybody willing to come clean ... ?!

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have about 800 of my music CDs (all originals) "backed up" to a lossless music server PC, listening to one right now.

During the ripping process I had to buy new copies of a few CDs because they had damaged track(s), and of course the RIAA members have no damaged-disc replacement policy even though you're supposedly just buying a "license." They also don't bother to give you any way to replace a damaged disc once it goes out of print.

I've only backed up a couple of my DVDs so far, but I have more I want to, like my out-of-print Criterion Seven Samurai first pressing and some anime titles. When a disc costs $25 and/or is out of print, spending $1-2 to back it up seems like a good idea since again the companies offer no means to get a replacement for damaged out-of-print discs.

I don't have any other "backup" DVDs, though I do have a few burned CDs from my brother I'm listening to before deciding whether to buy or discard. (Which falls under the limited fair use that RIAA members collect disc and recorder royalties on).

 

[DaveSimmons]

Software: games go out of print very quickly these days, and software companies go out of business as well. I have games like Fallout 1 - 2 and Planescape: Torment that I really should back up since I'll want to play them again eventually. Interplay might still be stocking replacement discs but they're on the edge of bankruptcy.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: joecool
interesting, i'd never really thought about cd's in my car, but you make a good point - using the copies means it doesn't matter if they get swiped, or melt, or scratched. think i might start doing that myself ...

but what about software and dvd's? not a single comment on that yet. anybody willing to come clean ... ?!

Read my post again.

 

[joecool]

Read my post again.

yeah, that was a "i'm typing while you're posting" type deal.

 

[joecool]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I have about 800 of my music CDs (all originals) "backed up" to a lossless music server PC, listening to one right now.

yeah, i have many of my cd's burned to my pc as mp3's, just to save the hassle of swapping cd's all the time. how do you make a lossless copy?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I use the FLAC lossless format, it takes about 300 MB per CD so the first 800 of my CDs (pop/rock) just barely fit on one 250 GB drive. I have a second drive I'm filling with my celtic, jazz, blues, classical etc.

I use Exact Audio Copy which calls the FLAC command-line encoder. You can find tons of material on both at www.hydrogenaudio.org

 

[Lonyo]

I made one copy of a CD. The original was quite badly scratched, so badly even the PC had problems with it and the copy wasn't too great, but it means the original will hopefully be saved from any further scratching.

 

[erikistired]

i rip all my cds to mp3 and put them on cdr's. the cd player in my truck reads them that way (more music less cds to lug around) and i can keep the originals out of the grasp of my 1 yr old.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Any CD S/W that comes into the house gets backup up twice.

Original goes into Safe Deposit box with sales receipt (copy stays at home in file cabinet for tax purposes).

 

[Chimpus]

Originally posted by: P.O.W.
I make backups of all the cd's my kids use on thier PC and keep the originals tucked away. The kids have a tendency to leave cds lying around and end up stepping on them.

Nail on the proverbial

 

[rbV5]

I've made copy's of all my Music and Software CD's, and with my new DVD burner, all my DVD's are safely stored away as well. Now I need a good cartridge for my turntable, and 20 years of classic rock vinyl thats been patiently waiting will get backed up next. I'm finding I prefer the DVD copies more anyway, no more crappy DVD player install on the PC, and no more ads on the TV...bam straight to the movie. I also copy all of my own created content, which is also copyrighted material.

Why would you not given the technology available?

 

[yukichigai]

Back in the days when games came on floppies rather than CDs I used to back them up all the time. Floppies somehow were more easily damaged. Nowadays I back up games only when they're old and hard-to-find games, like Ultimate Doom or Tribes. I CD-crack every piece of software I own regardless, so having the original isn't an issue.

I do back up my music, in that any CD I buy is automatically ripped to mp3s and put on my computer. That way I can listen to whatever I want while I'm on the compy, and I can transfer compilations to my mp3 player.

I've never backed up a DVD on the computer, though I have copied them to VHS a few times, editing out the crap I don't want like the FBI warning that drags on and on and on.

 

[8ballcoupe]

I travel a lot with a notebook computer. I make backup copies of operating system and application software CDs that I keep in a CD wallet that travels with me just in case I have to do a reinstallation. The originals stay at home.

So, I back up all of my software (as well as my data). But I don't share it with anyone, and I don't use software loaned to me by anyone else. I follow the EULA for each OS and application strictly. If the vendor allows an application (like Microsoft Office retail) to be installed concurrently on my desktop and my notebook then I make use of that fact. If, as is the case with most utilities, the software is licensed strictly on a per-workstation basis, then I follow the rules.

I make copies of some very special VHS movies to DVD (if they are not available for purchase on DVD) simply to keep from losing them over time. An example of this would be "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands." Warner Brothers distributed this Brazilian movie on VHS tape some time ago but never got around to releasing it on DVD. It is copy protected, too, but I use a copy protection defeating mechanism to output the movie to a capture card on a PC in order to produce the DVD copy. I would purchase the DVD in an instant if it were available.

I don't copy DVDs or LDs. We're very careful with them. I might consider copying some of the most important ones, however, if retail replacements were not available.

Ernie

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

If I would have backed up the $500 or whatever worth of CDs that were stolen from me years ago, I wouldn't have lost all of that music. It seems completely braindead to me to think that there is no valid cause for backing up of copyrighted material - as the various posts in this thread have demonstrated.

And $500 - good lord, that's a lot of money down the tubes. One of the countless reasons to not waste your money by supporting the RIAA et. al.

 

[kt]

I do. I make copies of my game CD's in case they go bad. Especially the ones that need the CD to be in the drive to play. That will kill the CD real quick.

 

[Looney]

For software, i almost always do, unless it's games that doesn't require a CD to be inserted to play.

As for DVDs, i haven't done that yet... but then again i don't own a DVD writer yet.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: kt
I do. I make copies of my game CD's in case they go bad. Especially the ones that need the CD to be in the drive to play. That will kill the CD real quick.

http://www.gamecopyworld.com

There. No more bad game CD.

On a side note I have actually downloaded copies of software/games for legitimate reasons. At one point I had a copy of MDK which was printed/pressed improperly. (you could see discoloration on the bottom of the disc) So while I was getting a replacement copy from Shiny I downloaded a copy and installed it. I still had a license from them, just no CD at the moment.

I also did the same thing with my Sega CD. I had one of the second-gen models with the ridges inside. While in general it worked better than the first-gen models the ridges were known to scratch some of the game discs, usually the earlier, heavier games... like Sonic CD. For a while I'd just roll on into Toys R' Us and exchange copies every month or so, but after Sega CD cratered I had to improvise. I figured out how to rip and copy Sega CD games and did just that with all my favs. (Changed the soundtrack to Sonic CD while I was at it) I wish I'd done that a lot sooner: apparantly burned CDs are light enough that they don't scratch.