Why copy-protection in music sucks. We've seen articles like this before, but never from the WSJ! It looks like even the mainstream, conservative biz press has found a clue.
Did you know that under U.S. copyright law, it's generally considered permissible to make copies of music you've purchased? "It's completely legal," explains Jessica Litman, a law professor at Wayne State University and the author of "Digital Copyright." As long as you're making a copy for private, noncommercial use, you're pretty much in the clear. File-sharing services have gotten into trouble by enabling copying on such a massive scale that it's not really noncommercial even if no money changes hands.
NOW, AFTER TWO years of complaining about services like Napster and KaZaA without offering alternatives, record companies are finally fielding their own online music networks. But guess what? Those networks don't just prevent illegal copies. They block other copies, too.
