Fred sez, "Brier Dudley from the Seattle Times has read the fine print on those DRM-free downloads from Amazon. Looks like the 'user agreement' strips you of your fair use rights and lets the record labels sue you for breach of contract if you cross the line."
Amazon's contract says you "may copy, store, transfer and burn the Digital Content" for personal use. But then it goes further and specifies restrictions, saying you "agree that you will not redistribute, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, adapt, edit, sub-license or otherwise transfer or use the Digital Content."
Oh, ffs. All we want to do is buy MP3s, like we used to buy CDs and records and tapes. Stuff we could make some claim to owning. You'd think that a group of people as property-obsessed as the recording industry would understand the desire to own one's music collection and have all the rights to it that copyright normally confers on those who buy copyrighted works — like the right to sell, edit. adapt, loan, modify, etc. All the stuff the law give law-abiding customers who buy stuff. Oh well. I had such hope for this one, too.
(Thanks, Link)
