UK copyright law will soon change allowing us to digitally copy our CD collection and legally save them in different media formats for personal use and storage on computer, MP3 players and other gadgets.
The landmark decision by the Intellectual Property Office to change its long standing and rather out-dated restrictions on June the 1st is a big deal for most of us who live in a tech dominated 21st century where devices such as the iPod are found in almost every pocket. From a legal point of view it’s not been seen as acceptable to rip content from Compact Disc or change the format of media, even if we’ve forked out the cash to own a legitimate copy.
Many people may not even be aware that there is an actual a law in place to prevent the act of copying CDs because it was merely frowned upon with seemingly very little done to punish offenders. For those aware of the law but did it anyway, a sigh of relief can be released and from June there will be no more looking over the shoulder when we load our favourite album onto iPod or backup to storage such as the Cloud.
It will however still be illegal to distribute or sell copies.