iPod law eases for music, not films

There's an article on the front page of today's Herald entitled "iPod law eases for music, not films" that outlines proposed changes to copyright legislation which would allow "format-shifting" to become legal. The law as it stands does not allow you to copy music you purchase from a CD to your computer and/or portable music device. If the legislation in the proposed Copyright (New Technologies) Bill goes through, it will be legal to copy a CD you've paid for onto your iPod.

One of the things that won't change, however, is the rule surrounding video recordings. Legally you can only "time-shift" recordings made from TV onto (for example) VHS tapes; the provision in the law states that you can only keep recordings you make for "...no longer than is reasonably necessary for viewing [...] at a more convenient time". Of course, just like the current laws surrounding audio recordings, no one actually follows these rules, and they aren't enforced anyway.

Self-agrandising Internet bigwig David Farrar, who is well-known in the NZ blogosphere, is quoted as saying:

"The big stupidity is that now you can do it, but you can keep it only for as long as it would reasonably take to watch it. It brings to mind the idea that the copyright police might check and say, 'This is three weeks old. You should have had time to view it by now'."

The article contains what I think is an interesting quote from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) chief Campbell Smith:

"I think that's fair. You buy something for your own use and that's how it should be. We are in the business of trying to sell people music, not trying to prevent them doing what is reasonable."

So, in short, it's now going to be legal to do what we've all been doing for the last 7 or so years anyway. :)