According to copyright laws in Britain, copying content of CDs to a personal computer or iPods or "format shifting" is not legal, but consumers are confused as the law seems outdated.

Many consumers are copying the content while the law remains unaware of the crime, said Consumer Focus, a Government supported watchdog body. This was concluded in a poll of 2,026 people where 73% admitted that they are not knowing what they should copy or record and what they should not. Also, according to an IT lawyer Nick Lockett, DL Legal nobody is being criminalized for this offence.

Jill Johnstone, International Director, Consumer Focus said, "The credibility of UK copyright law has fallen through the floor. Millions of consumers are regularly copying CDs or DVDs and are unaware they are breaching copyright law. The world has moved on and reform of copyright law is inevitable, but it's not going to update itself. If the Government wants consumers to respect copyright law they have to stop sitting on their hands and bring the law in line with the real world."

A spokesman for the BPI, the Record Industry Trade Body said, "We agree that the format shifting of legitimately purchased CDs should not leave consumers in a legal quandary. In practice, we have never taken any action against consumers who rip CDs to computers or portable music players".