In the past, we usually buy CD's and tapes of our
favorite artists to listen to their songs. Now, no need to buy them. You just have to look for the songs in the internet, download them, and burn to a CD-ROM. However, it's not as simple as that. There are laws behind this issue and this is not as simple as the downloading process. There are songs that can be downloaded lawfully and there are not. It depends on the country on what laws they have regarding this matter. Hence, laws regarding the sharing and downloading of music on the Internet vary from country to country.
Downloading copyright music from peer-to-peer networks is
legal in Canada, but uploading those files is not. The country also impose fees on recording mediums like blank CDs and similar items. These fees are used to fund musicians and songwriters for money that they have lost due to copying. However in US, the law is more strict. According to the US Code, the copyright owners are protected from unauthorized reproduction, adaptation or distribution of sound recordings, and also certain digital performances to the public. It is legal to purchase a CD and record it to MP3 files for yourself. But, if you download these files through peer-to-peer networks then you will be constituted for breach of law.
