Has anybody ever had problems going through US or Canadian Customs with an mp3 player due to copyright laws, not having official versions of copyrighted music?

I've never heard of that happening, no. And lots of people on this board have brought MP3 players through customs before. I'm pretty sure it's something they aren't even interested in checking.

The only things they are worried about are things you might be bringing to sell in the country. For instance, your personal MP3 player full of tunes isn't something they care about. But if you brought a case full of shrink-wrapped CDs ready to sell, then they'd want their cut of the profits. That's all.

Customs don't care about music. Even if they did, how could you EVER prove the music was or wasn't legal.

On a side note, customs won't even know what it is!

We're talking about US Customs and Immigration here -- they can detain you indefinitely without trial or lawyer just for looking weird.

Be afraid.. be very afraid..

We're talking about US Customs and Immigration here -- they can detain you indefinitely without trial or lawyer just for looking weird.

It's not our fault that Canucks look weird!

And this is different from most other countries? Most of the counties I've been to (granted...never to any in Europe) seem about the same.

By ``detain'', he doesn't mean ``deny entrance'', but ``put in jail''. You could conceivably be put in jail for the rest of your life for no real reason based on the ``Patriot'' Act. Even a US citizen.

And if you were taking that into account, it's different because it violates the US's earliest laws.

A friend of mine was stopped at the german/belgian border (although customs as such don't exist anymore...) and checked his car for CD's, to look if he had some copies with him. With the empeg (or any other DAP) there should be less problems, because they can't come to your house and check if you have all the original CD's corresponding to the music on your player; but still I think it's not that easy.

In reply to:

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With the empeg (or any other DAP) there should be less problems, because they can't come to your house and check if you have all the original CD's corresponding to the music on your player; but still I think it's not that easy.

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Not yet anyway... The way things seem to be going you will have to register your CD's, if the RIAA begged for it enough.

Sean in NC

I've driven through the border between Windsor and Detroit many times since I've installed my Empeg...I've always just turned down the tunes and the agents never gave it a second glance...except for one time, a lady agent seemed to be very interested in getting one for her own car once I told her what it was

...except for one time, a lady agent seemed to be very interested

Nah, you misread the signs dude, its your body she was after

Now you tell him!

Anyway, I appreciate the advice. I tend to have border-phobia even when I'm not doing anything wrong. I wouldn't want to face 5,601 counts of copyright infringement while on my honeymoon just because the hotel with the Jacuzzi suite is on the Canadian side of Niagra Falls, yet I wouldn't want to travel without my cherished Empeg, either!

I had actually considered storing it overnight in a locker at the bus station (a terrifying thought), or removing all the files I don't have the original cd's for (and bringing them along for evidence), but I probably don't need to go to such drastic measures, huh?

copyright infringement

I've heard of people getting involved in all sorts of desirable and undesirable practices on their honeymoons, but this isn't one of them!

Just look at it this way. If you did face 5,601 counts of copyright infringment while on your honeymoon you would at least be famous and have articles in Slashdot about you. That would make up for it right? Seriously I think I would be more concerned about the wedding at this point if I were you. But I know the paranoid feelings your having, I felt the same way about things before my wedding this last summer. I was bugging out about every little detail..

In good old cassette days, when pirating was going to kill the record industry (Nothing new under the sun), a policeman stopped me for speeding on Wimbledon common: Went through my entire collection of copies of cassettes and asked to listen to the new Chicago album (before they went soft), admitting that any new album, the lads down at the station all made a cassette of, to save buying more than one copy - so what do you have to worry about?

there are so-called copyright infringments on almost every computer in america. nobody gives a damn, except the RIAA.

Oh, they give a damn, it's just that they understand it's not worth their time/money to pursue every incident of piracy. Only when thibngs get waaaay out of control do companies ever resort to suing end-users. (See Microsoft, Riaa, DirectTV)

It takes a tremendous amount of clout and money (mainly money) to get away with suing the consumer base, and companies know this.

My advise: If they ask if you have any firearms, don't respond with "yeah, what do you need?"