recording television shows vs music

[DrPizza]

It's not illegal to record television shows... and with TIVO's, etc, you can record from a digital cable signal in very high quality.

Correct?

Now, on my digital cable, I have 50 or so digital music channels to choose from. What's the difference between recording the television shows and recording songs from the digital music stations?
Thus, I could record directly to my computer from the cable and have thousands and thousands of mp3's in no time, legally...

Am I missing something??
Not that I'm out to break the law, or illegally download mp3's..... I'm just trying to point out that there are legitimate avenues for those who want mp3's, at least I think they're legitimate...

(oh boy... if because of the DMCA they can sue someone over a shift key... I may be in trouble here.... )

 

[DrPizza]

uhh, anyone?

 

[SackOfAllTrades]

For home entertainment, you can record whatever. But it becomes illegal if you give or sell the tapes. Distribution is the lucky word for this issue. That's why downloading mp3s is illegal. CDs are purchased and parts of it (ie songs) are being distributed over the internet.

As with TiVo. Try to look into the case of TV Studios vs. ReplayTV. ReplayTV was a TiVo like device in which you could also save television shows and send them to your friends that also have ReplayTV. The issue here was sending those shows to other people. I forget the ruling but I think ReplayTV had to stop that feature.

I feel like I'm not answering all your questions, but I'm trying my best (been years since I've studied copyright law.)