On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:38:50 -0500, Jeff Wisnia wrote:

I own most of Tom Lehrer's works on vinyl LPs, including his first
release on a 10" LP (Remember them?) They are stuffed in a carton with a
bunch of my other favorite LPs from the 50s and 60s, sitting on the
floor of a closet in our home.

I don't even own anything which can play LPs anymore, and I had no
compunction about downloading a bunch of his songs as MP3s through Kazaa
last year so that I could laugh at his wit again again and let friends
who were over hear them too.

I'm willing to take my chances with the copyright nazis over that.

What you describe is a completely legal and ethical use of those
materials. The fact that you're not the one who ripped the .mp3
isn't relevant; you've bought a license to that performance and you
are using it.

Leherer and the recording companies got their pieces of silver from me
back when I bought the LPs new.

Exactly. It'd be different if you didn't have those records, but
you do. No grey area at all.