Still, owners of copyrighted material are unlikely to okay end users to burn copies onto their computers or blank disks.
"The software companies enable users to make copies, but they warn you that it might be illegal, which covers them legally," said Claire Boyce, a disk-burning software expert who has worked in the disk-drive industry for over six years.
"It is certainly a gray area," she said.
Bill Hsiun (
Another disk-burning software developer puts warnings on its products about the risks of prosecution if copyrighted material is copied illegally.
"We are not specialized in copy-ing CDs or DVDs," said Jenny Menhart, spokeswoman for Ahead Software GmbH, the German makers of Nero CD burning software, a popular choice for students in this country.
Like Ulead, Nero markets its products as a tool for creating back-up disks and personal edits, using video, images and music that the individual creates or has the rights to.
Nero's rival in disk-burning software, Roxio Inc, was the only one to admit yesterday that its users made copies of copyrighted material for personal use.
"We support the Fair Use Act enabling consumers to record and store copyrighted content they have purchased," said Roxio's public relations specialist, Simone Souza in an e-mail.
To stop the illegal copying of its products, the movie industry has encoded DVDs, and tried to make blank DVDs and DVD recorders illegal, but with no success.
"Technology is not the only method we should be able to use to stop piracy," Tu said. "We have to use education and legal methods too."
Meanwhile, the heat is about to be turned up on the industry. With the introduction of digital TV in Europe, the US and parts of Asia, consumers will demand DVD quality home recordings -- an upgrade of the VCR to the DVD recorder.
Ulead, Ahead and Roxio are all currently developing software to record TV programs directly onto DVDs and VCDs.
RSS