The Classic Vinyl Record

I have seen a number of articles and posts about whether or not it is legal or ethical to rip an album or CD that you already own to MP3. There are at least two schools of thought on this.

The first idea is that once you own something, you own the content. The music is yours to do with as you please, and you could take it from vinyl and make MP3’s then make an audio CD. You can make as many copies FOR YOURSELF that you want. You bought the content (music).

The second idea is that you own the medium, not the content. In other words, you bought the vinyl album, but you don’t own the music, you own the vinyl itself. If you want it on CD, buy it. If you want it on MP3, you should buy it and download it from iTunes, Amazon or somewhere legal. You must buy a song three times, vinyl, CD and MP3.

I know what I think (I hope I do). I believe that once you have bought an album, you can do with it as you please. For instance, if I buy a record and it has a great song that really gets me pumped up, I’ll want to put it on my workout mix. I already bought the song, why should I have to buy it again just to have it on MP3?

What do you think? Is it ethical to rip music that you already own? Or should you buy every format that you need?