While this is set to raise the standards of the world, it comes on the back of one of the silliest High Court rulings.

The ruling, which was ironically forced by Big Content, requires you to have the permission of the copyright holder to copy anything.

So far everyone has concentrated on the fact that it means you can't back up content on your hard-drive. However it could also make a whole swath of content illegal.

Firstly you can't rip your CDs to programmes like iTunes. Which is no big deal. Apple fanboys download their Coldpay from iTunes and are forced to listen to U2 anyway.

However if you want to change the format from mp3 into a wma you are breaking the law.
The UK Intellectual Property Office issued a statement saying:

"It is now unlawful to make private copies of copyright works you own, without permission from the copyright holder – this includes format shifting from one medium to another.

 

"It includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying."

 

"The Government is not aware of any cases of copyright holders having prosecuted individuals for format shifting music solely for their own personal use."

So that means that you can use your iTunes but if someone in Big Content decides to take you down, you could be in trouble.