If I edit a CD track to make a short MP3 ring-tone, can I legally give it to others?

If you read our Copyright laws, you'll know that this is clearly illegal. The question is: "why?"

The Copyright Act gives exclusive rights to "works of authorship". That means the owner of those rights can control how a work is used-- whether it's used in commercial recordings, whether it's chopped up and used in a ring tone or a commercial, etc.

If you write a song, you get to control it. Doesn't matter if it's instrumental, or only 16 bars (assuming 16 bars is the song, which it probably is).

That concept of rewarding the artist sounds nice, but why should a consumer have to pay for a song twice because she wants to hear it out of her cell phone, instead of her ipod? Why should one have to buy the song again when one already purchased it on an album, and now wants to listen to it on that same ipod?

There's some talk about "fair use" here. Fair use, which is sometimes referred to as "the insanity defense to copyright violation," would be a problem here. This is a complex area of the law, but there are four factors courts would weigh in assessing whether this was fair use; I don't see how any of those factors could help here, and litigating it would likely cost astounding sums of money.

I think it's clear from questions like this that it's time to think about what the answer to this question SHOULD be.

In an age where people purchase music, enjoy it, and possess common household devices that include that music in their cell phone, as the ringtone. . . what are we protecting, when we make that illegal?

Unless we want to be criminals because we use our favorite song as our ringtone, our Copright laws need to be written, or reinterpreted, to work in the information age.

That particular situation WOULD put you in violation of copyright laws.

That person who answered that it's okay only if you don't sell it is absolutely wrong. The owner of the song retains the right to sell copies. That is what the term means. Copyright laws allow a certain degree of "fair use." But it does not allow someone to copy and distribute piece of someone else's music.

Getting caught is another matter.

Sure you can legally give it away. There's no crime or harm in that, but if you put a price on it and sell it then that's what you call piracy and that couldn't get you in some serious trouble. And you're welcome

it is quite possible burn The ring tone and than give it to somebody

sure