@smartdaze: AudioTools is no longer developed or supported, the author packed it all up after people kept pirating it. It was great software for its time, though. I still have a backup copy someplace that I actually paid for.

@cleverendeavor7: At least in the United States, the law has never changed. The law has ALWAYS been that you are allowed to make ONE backup from a copy that you own and are physically your posession. You cannot use somebody else's backup, even if it is bit-for-bit identical.

#21, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 made it illegal to possess or distribute copies of digital media, regardless of whether or not you own the information in a different format. The exception of this (which is still unclear in some cases) is the personal backup and use of media - cracking protection on DVDs, however, is illegal according to the act and therefore any "decryption" or DRM circumvention that takes place is, in fact, illegal. Prior to the DMCA, there was no law stating you couldn't download a copy of your own media for backup purposes only.

There was some sarcasm in my post, given that the law has been the same for over 10 years. It was NOT, however, always illegal to download a copy of music you already own - it was just illegal to share that music with others.