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legality of mp3 "trial period?"

O

omyek

Member
so me and my suitemates have had this conversation many times before and we're torn as to whether downloading an mp3 album off our school's network is legal if we're only using it for a 24-hr trial period. once the times expires, we get rid of the album and from there decide to purchase it or not based on our impressions of the album.

i'm personally against this as there's no law concerning this topic specifically, and many laws/acts which indirectly relate in terms of copyrights.

one of my suitemates argues the fair use doctrine which paraphrased says copyrighted material can be used for "critiquing" without infringement. however, i feel the FUD only allows a portion of the copyrighted matieral to be used and not the entire album, in this case.

another argument is that the 24-hr trial period is the same as if you borrowed the album from a friend . . . but in that instance you're guaranteed the CD is being used legally, as there is only one person will be listening to it any given time. (similar to having one valid license for different types of software) but in the case of downloading an album, the odds that it's illegal to begin with are pretty high and even if the album was created from a personal copy, putting it out for public download is against copyright, and to download it would not be guaranteeing only one person is listening to it at one time.

so for that reason, you can't download it to begin with. you have no way of knowing . . .

i'm sure there are a few, but that's the main one.

any thoughts?
-keymo

 
It's still probably illegal. But you can make all the arguments in the world and everyone will still find a way to rationalize that keeping their MP3's is okay 🙂
 
yes, that's true . . . i'm sure it's just some excuse.

BUT. this hasn't been brought to trial yet and a judgement made . . . so there's no _real_ way of knowing if it's legal or not?

or is that just another excuse? 🙂 <-- remember, i'm against all of this. just trying to get better arguments and maybe some with legal basis.

-keymo
 
Consider this logic: if it IS legal to download an MP3, use it for 24 hours and subsequently delete it, what about re-downloading it at a later date? A perpetually renewing "trial license". Heh, heh, don't think that would float.

How important is this issue? I have MP3s that were downloaded over 2 years ago. Music sharing has become so widespread and prevalent that what the law says seems completely irrelvant. You might take issue what that, but I'm just stating the facts of reality.
 


<< Consider this logic: if it IS legal to download an MP3, use it for 24 hours and subsequently delete it, what about re-downloading it at a later date? A perpetually renewing "trial license". Heh, heh, don't think that would float. >>


good point
 
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