Copyright Protection, Piracy and Backups

I have been thinking about this for a long time. Media companies want to curtail piracy, people want to take backup of their media (and want to pirate too but that's not what I want to discuss).

When VCR was introduced there was a huge row made by media company that this would make piracy easier. They also said the use of VCR itself was an illegal act. But court (U.S.) ruled that using VCR to record (for personal use) a program telecasted on television is not illegal. VCRs are not very popular anymore but DVRs (read TiVo) are.

Copying of VCDs for keeping back-ups met similar fate. But DVDs is a different ball game. While ripping VCDs for personal use was ok. Ripping DVDs is not legal. It is illegal because circumventing copy protection mechanisms is illegal. DVDs have a copy protection mechanism and circumventing that (ripping) would fall into the 'crime' category.

This leaves consumers high and dry. DVDs are costly and they are not exactly 'forever' media. What happens when the DVD I bought after paying a good sum (and various taxes) goes bonk. I have to spend the same amount (may be more after a couple of years) to buy the DVD.

It would be better if media companies gave consumers some room by replacing damaged media for a lesser amount. The argument is that the consumers have already paid for content, copyrights and royalties related to the contents of the DVD and they own the content. Consumer should not be asked to pay for the content again. Media companies would be justified in asking for a small profit on the replacement copy because they will have a whole lot of changes and increased traffic in their supply chain and distribution cycle.

Just wondering if that would ever happen.

I also want to know whether iTunes Store lets you download the same song/audiobook/episode again without paying? If it does then this is exactly what I am asking for.

Some links : here