MUSIC FANS rejoice, those CDs that you spent so much money on years ago can soon be legally copied to a computer and music player.
This will be a relief to anyone that has an Ipod for example, but only two songs on it, or anyone that has ever - for example - used the rip a CD option in Windows Media Player.
The Government, which presumably has just bought the best of Punk or something, is readying a change in the law thanks to the sense making Hargreaves report, which looked at copyright laws in this country.
What this means is that currently you do not really own the content in the CDs that you once bought for as much as £15, regardless of how long you have had them or how many times you have listened to them.
The content, for now, still belongs to people like Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and a bunch of facelass music executives and rights holders. We can only assume that if we had ever dared to copy one of our CDs to an MP3 player, for example, at least one of them would turn up at the office bleating about their profits.
The Government's response to the Hargreaves Review, and its recommendations seems to one of agreement.
"The choice Prof. Hargreaves has outlined for the UK is clear: change now to make the most of our strong position or risk losing it through missed opportunities," says the response.
Announcing the adoption, the government Business Secretary, Vince Cable added, "The Government is focused on boosting growth and the Hargreaves review highlighted the potential to grow the UK economy. By creating a more open intellectual property system it will allow innovative businesses to develop new products and services which will be able to compete fairly in the UK's thriving markets for consumer equipment....
"We are accepting the recommendations and will now set about reforming the UK's intellectual property systems. Opening up intellectual property laws can deliver real value to the UK economy as well as the creators and consumers."
Changes include more than just a big okay to music ripping, they also include the right to create parody songs and plans to make it easier to free up orphaned works for future use.
