Redbook Keeps Surprising

It is legal to copy any music to a tape since tape manufacturers pay royalties per foot of the tape.  Same is the case when you copy to "Music CDR", that is slightly more expansive (because of royalties) than plain CDR.

As for copy vs original sound - copy might sound better since ripping software can read the same sector multiple times.  CDP cannot do this, working in real time.  Samples under scratches (along the track) will be:  <4mm will be auto corrected, 4-8mm interpolated, >8mm lost.  CDP might change the sound by interpolating a lot of samples on scratched CD. By ripping you can "refresh" scratched CDs.  On the other hand CDR and CD might behave differently in CDP (different reflection) while computer servers might introduce jitter.

Cleeds, you’re probably right. I know it was proposed in Congress to charge per foot of analog tape in 1985 but looks like it wasn’t approved. Levy on tapes was implemented in other countries like France or Australia.

I’m still not clear on the copyright. If CD-R (or Music CD-R) is intended for personal backup only then there is no need for any royalties, since I paid them once buying CD. If small royalties are paid per CDR than copying friend’s CD should be considered legal. Non-commercial sharing between friends or family was considered in 1989 a "Home use" and was legal according to government.

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ota/Ota_2/DATA/1989/8910.PDF

page 5, right column:

Legal Status of Home Copying as Private Use-In this report, OTA defines “home copying” (of copyrighted materials) as an essentially private, noncommercial activity, so that “home copies” includes copies shared with or given to friends, but not homemade copies that are bought or sold. This definition is consistent with the definition of private use in the 1986 OTA report on intellectual property.

One can argue, that only fraction of royalties were paid on CD-R, but remember that most of people use CD-Rs for the other purpose, including data, or personal backup, where royalties are not necessary - more than making up for the difference. It can also be argued, that stores loose business when people copy CDs, but furniture stores also loose business when people make their own furniture. People who produced media (CD-Rs) and artists were paid - no harm done?

Here is the list of the media levy in different countries, including US:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy

oregonpapa, backups are for that. I have two backups - second one just in case of something bad happening while copying. This second backup resides at my workplace (fire, theft etc). It doesn’t make any difference to me whether I have original CD or not - I just don’t want to rip huge number of of CDs again.