StationRipper/StreamRipper - Are they legal?

[MattPaintballer]

Hey I was wondering if programs like StationRipper/StreamRipper are legal. If you don't know what they are, they use free online radio broadcasts and allow you to rip from those broadcasts to MP3. Since the broadcasts are free I assume ripping them is legal, but I just wanted to check to make sure.

 

[congaline]

I've been using Replayradio to copy streams from live 'net radio, and they seem to act like it's ok to do. Of course, that doesn't make it ok to do

I grab a lot of BBC stuff (which they podcast a lot of, too) and replay inserts it automagically into my itunes db.

Anyhow, I don't know if it's 100% legal, maybe you can check the Help file for stationripper to see if it releases them of all legal liability. If it does, then it's probably not ok to use.

 

[papayaninja]

Whether or not it's legal is not the issue, it's whether or not they (as in THE MAN) can trace it, and with these I'm pretty sure they can't. So yeah. It's as legal as taping radio I'd imagine, but you have to know whether the online station pays the correct fees and what not which is rarely the case.