Australian iPod Users Breaking Piracy Laws
The Herald Sun, Australia's biggest-selling daily newspaper, reports that no legal method exists for Australian iPod owners to fill their player with music.
And they could face court with anti-piracy groups refusing to rule out suing users of the popular player.
None of the tunes available from legal download internet sites are compatible with the Apple iPod music players. The common method of "ripping" tunes on to an iPod from the user's own CD collection is illegal -- as a breach of copyright laws.
And unlike Britain and the US, Australia does not yet have an Apple iTunes store for iPod-compatible legal downloads. An estimated million people nationwide have already bought and put music on their iPods.
But all methods of filling the player with music are illegal, which means Australia's hundreds of thousands of iPod users are all technically criminals.
While no one in Australia has yet been sued for transferring tunes from CDs to iPods, Music Industry Piracy Investigations say that may not always be the case.
None of the tunes available from legal download internet sites are compatible with the Apple iPod music players. The common method of "ripping" tunes on to an iPod from the user's own CD collection is illegal -- as a breach of copyright laws.
And unlike Britain and the US, Australia does not yet have an Apple iTunes store for iPod-compatible legal downloads. An estimated million people nationwide have already bought and put music on their iPods.
But all methods of filling the player with music are illegal, which means Australia's hundreds of thousands of iPod users are all technically criminals.
While no one in Australia has yet been sued for transferring tunes from CDs to iPods, Music Industry Piracy Investigations say that may not always be the case.