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Copying onto Ipod

I got an Ipod as a gift a short while ago and one of my friends offered to fill it up with the hundreds of music albums she has on Itunes. Am I allowed to copy her music without payment? Here are some points that apply to this situation:

1) Before I got this gift I had considered buying an ipod but decided that I wouldn’t since I did not want to spend money on songs to fill it up.

2) Even now that I got this ipod as a gift, I’m not really planning to spend my hard earned money on music to load it. I might possibly end up buying one to three albums a year, but not more, and I can say with certainty that on the occasion that I do buy, I’ll buy only a new release. In other words, it is highly unlikely that I’ll ever purchase music albums that have been released before the year of 2015.

3) Although I won’t be buying any music albums that were released in 2014 or prior, if I were to get those albums from my friend, it’s possible (although I’m not entirely sure about this,) that I’ll be content with those and therefore, instead of buying 1 – 3 new releases a year, I would probably now buy only 1 or 2 of the new releases (1 or 2 albums less than I would have bought had I not had the old albums.)

Would it be permissible for me to get copies of the old music albums my friend has on her itunes?

Answer:

This question relates to the general issue of copyright regulations.

In our opinion it is not permitted to transgress copyright law, and this will mean that it is not permitted to copy the music onto your new iPod.

Aside from the technical prohibition (which is a matter of dispute among different authorities), artists invest much money, time and effort to produce their artistic creations, and it is not morally correct to copy them.

The factors you mention will not influence this halachic principle.

Best wishes.

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1 Comment

  1. there are many services now that will allow you to download as much as you want for only a few dollars a month. for instance, Spotify.

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