It has happened to all of us at one time or another. That expensive CD or DVD game, movie, or whatever suffers a major scratch or ding which makes it unplayable. Yet we consumers are prohibited by either software design or licensing constraints from making a copy of our precious media. In theory if a CD or DVD is damaged we are just SOL. Seem fair?

So what is a person supposed to do? Violate copy protections and make a backup copy of the disk for their own personal use only? Or just buy a new disk if one gets damaged? This is where copy right laws and intellectual property rights and rights of the consumer seem to conflict. On the one hand it is understandable why companies don’t want us to duplicate disks. Their fear is that we will l pass on or sell copies of the disks to others.

But what about those of us who just wish to protect our investment and have legally purchased our software or music legally. Do we not have the right to make a copy in case the original is damaged?

I’m not condoning pirating nor downloading anything illegal. What I am condoning is our right to protect our investment. Our right to protect our CD’s or DVD’s in case of damage. Even minor scratches can sometimes make a disk unusable.

In this day and age of super technology, it would seem that someone, somewhere can make a copy protection scheme in which at least one copy can be made of any given disk. Or how about this. Why not include an original and backup copy of the disk to the original purchaser? Sure some people will cheat and pass the disk on. But the majority [over 51%] will obey copyright law and respect the intellectual rights of others.

I don’t know about you. But I am getting tired of being punished for the mistakes of others.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

[tags]dvd, cd, copying[/tags]