If you purchased it, you should be able to - as the article originally said - leave it to your next of kin. I'm talking about using the CD in any way I want for private purposes.
And, in point of fact, you can leave them to your next of kin. Sure, the ToS are fuzzy on the question of transfer because the industry would like everyone to have to buy them over again. But it's never been tested in a court of law (to the best of my knowledge), and it's likely an area that wouldn't stand up. Really, the way it would be likely to be tested is if someone gave their library to a child and it was contested by the RIAA, or something like that. That's not likely to happen, for any number of reasons.
NedBookPro said:
Have a look on ebay - many people are legally selling DVDs and CDs.
Are you saying that they are breaking the law??
Well, perhaps it would depend on who you ask. And even more so it would depend on the whole situation. I'd be willing to bet you that most CDs that are sold today are sold after they have been ripped, and the ripped songs are not deleted when the CD is sold. In that case, yes, they are breaking the law. There are probably those in the entertainment industry that would try to argue that the sale of the CD, ripped or not, is illegal, but they won't push it to court because they wouldn't be likely to win.
When VCRs first started coming out, the television industry tried very hard to get the technology blocked, arguing that consumers were violating the broadcast license terms. The courts denied their case, but it's a good example of how the industry sees terms of use and what's really enforceable.
The reality is that all we really need to concern ourselves with is what's enforceable. Not what's technically enforceable, as the technology is getting better all the time, but what's legally enforceable. I doubt that any court would uphold a challenge to having a music library passed on to one's progeny.
NedBookPro said:
I'm sure the record industry would have loved to have the technology to make a vinyl album or a CD only play on one turntable or CD player. To suggest that's reasonable is insanity. So why should that be OK for digital media?
And here's where you're totally losing me. Digital songs don't play on only one device. I can play my iTunes songs on my computer, my iPod, my iPad, my dumb phone. If I copy them onto a USB stick, I can play them on my car stereo (also works to just plug in my iPod), my parents TV, and almost any other compatible device. So, again, just what is it that you're on about?