If that were true there would have been no need for the AHRA. Copying audio tapes at home was a copyright violation. Doing the same for VHS was and still is.
No. That was still based on DIGITAL recording, and the lie that "perfect digital copies" would cause an explosion of piracy. And of course our "representatives" toadied up to the corporations and abetted them in screwing consumers. And, by levying an asinine "tax" on blank media, it actually AUTHORIZED home copying by presuming guilt.
Anybody, yes ANYBODY based in reality knew that essentially all "piracy" took place in dorm rooms and bedrooms on double-cassette boom boxes... FAR from "perfect" copies. People who could afford DAT recorders were not going to be sapping record-company profits.
And we all know what happened next: The "perfect digital copies" lie was further debunked with the ascendancy of MP3... another lossy and imperfect reproduction.
