I4one

Good points pete

Sinnersis

You've largely got me there, but what's to stop me from ordering free replacment media when mine isn't damaged and then giving it to a friend? and what of postage? - paid by the company or the individual?

proxops-pete

No, as a requirement, you'd HAVE to send in the broken/damaged product. I'd pay for mine to be sent in and they'd pay for it to be shipped to me. That's how I RMA'ed my damaged video cards and memory in the past.

Sinnersis

There goes my argument, and I do prefer to own the original media.

Either way we should be allowed as many backups as we think we require to protect our investment.

zackbass

You should definitely be able to make copies for personal backup use. The sending-it-in-for-a-replacement thing doesn't work for me and I'd imagine many others because the software I need replaced most is obsolete. Why should anyone care if I make a backup copy for myself anyway, software producers go to great lengths to make it clear that I bought a license and not the media. I had better be able to make use of the license I bought no matter whether the company is in business or not.

Also, what if the original media wasn't destroyed but lost instead. I still own a license to the software but I'm not allowed to use it anymore since the little disc of plastic unknowingly got lodged behind the heater next to my computer?

jester22c

As long as I purchase software on easily destroyed medium, i.e. cd/dvds I will make backup copies. I have a binder just for backup copies in fact... if they'd sell them on something that didn't ever scratch, well then I wouldn't have to back them up.