People often wonder, if it is illegal to remove DRM restrictions from music that was legally obtained, i.e. purchased, online. In order to clarify this issue, one has to take a look at the two opposing sides.
On one side, you have the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" (DMCA), a United States copyright law that was passed in 1998, that makes it illegal to circumvent the copy protection from cds, dvds, and other media. This means that you are not allowed to create products or carry out any actions aimed to cracking the copy protection coding. The European Union has a very similar law, the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), that was passed in 2002.
The opposing side refers to the term "fair use", a doctrine in the United States copyright law, that states how copyright material may be used without committing infringement. Many argue that ripping their purchased cds to Mp3 for personal use and transferring, converting, and editing these files as they wish fall under that right. Judges have agreed in many cases. Itunes, for example, give you a burning right. After burning, you have a legally obtained an audio cd. Using this argument, you are allowed to rip this audio cd for personal use, which happens to remove the DRM restrictions from the itunes songs. A legal software that uses this argumentation for DRM removal is "Noteburner". It uses a virtual burner, wasting no actual CD-Rs.
The copy protection laws are a "gray zone". It is difficult to know what is allowed and what isn't, when it comes to modern audio distribution, formats, and DRM removal. It pretty much depends on how the facts are twisted and turned in each individual case. Some things are tolerated while other similar things may not be. The last word surely has not been spoken in this subject matter and surely everyone is eager to see how this will progress.
Keep in mind, however, when registering at online music shops, you are agreeing to
their terms of use. Make sure to read it thoroughly before signing up.
