Is ripping CDs even legal?

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

it canada it is, because we're paying a tax on top of the price of the cds/dvds to cover copyright infringement. it might be illegal in the united states.

We pay a similar tax, which is BS corporate welfare. It has nothing to do with whether or not using the cd you already paid for is legal.

yes it is bs, because none of the money collected is going to the artists. but because we're charged the tax, it's legal for us to copy and distribute, according to the law that was instituted to impose the tax.

it's a different matter in the united states though. i don't think they've made it illegal to copy cds. to get around this, various bigwig corporations have developed drm to prevent copying.

just last year, the ultra-right-winged conservative government tried to make copying and distribution illegal, but they faced a huge backlash from consumers who said we're already paying tax, so the government backed down. however, they've mentioned that they're looking at making the copying of movies illegal. it hasn't been made into law yet. but then, we're already paying a tax on all recordable media and media players, so they probably will back down again.

Um, last year the U.S. government was almost totally liberal, bud. Thanks for helping he, though! :)