Bill Gates busted, Albuquerque, 1977Are you concerned about the legality of copying music from your CDs to your computer to your iPod or vice versa?  What the law allows in that regard varies drastically from country to country around the world, so it can get pretty confusing.

Whatever.  Bill Gates says there’s no problem.  At a meeting of technology bloggers convened the other day at Microsoft’s corporate headquarters, he reportedly tossed out this little zinger:

“People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.”

Hmmm.  If you’re in Canada, that’s true, but my understanding of US law is that it isn’t true.  I think that American law prohibits CD buyers from ripping their CDs at all.

Mr Gates also complained about DRM.

Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life” (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.

I think he’s got that wrong, too.  I have no problems with DRM, and I suspect that’s true of the average iTunes Music Store customer.  I buy songs through iTunes, download 'em to my iPod, share 'em with other computers at home via our Airport wireless network, burn ’em to CDs, etc.

Of course, he’s criticising device-specific DRM schemes.  Apple makes a killing on the iPod year after year, and Microsoft is only now trying to catch up.  I suspect that Mr Gates is seriously PO’d that Apple has successfully implemented a sound and profitable DRM plan, and Microsoft hasn’t done it right yet.  Rave on, Bill.

Photo downloaded from The Smoking Gun

h/t: Geekwatch by Matthew Ingram

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