is it legal to record music for personal use from airwave radio and internet radio

The copyright rightsholder of the sound recording (CD/album) has the exclusive right to make copies of the recording, and the copyright holders(s) of the musical compositions contained in the sound recordings are supposed to be paid "mechaincal" royalties every time a copy is made of their song.

The infrngement of your single copy is a matter of pennies, so but so the whole music business, and by not buying the CD, you're depriving those musicians and music companies of income - it's a lot if you multiply this kind of use by hundreds of thousands.

You'll never be caught, so it's academic, and some people think there's an exemption to copying for personal use, but I think copying is only permissible if you bought a copy to start with and are making a copy for back-up or for use on another machine.

Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.

I agree that a reasoned application of the law forces the unfortunate conclusion that recording either over-the-air or internet sound recordings for personal in-home use infringes the copyright in the sound recordings.

But, as noted, if the copy is only used in a home then the infringement harm is so slight that it's highly unlikely anyone will know, care, or take any action against the infringer. Note also that copyright infringement is not a crime (until many thousands of dollars worth of recordings are copied). In short, you can be sued but not arrested.

You certainly need to be careful about copying internet-streamed music however -- hacking through the digital locks that typically prevent such downloading is a violation of copyright law all in itself and may violate other laws as well. And those wrongs will not be so lightly dismissed.

On a related note --- when the attorney for the record labels in the MGM v. Grokster case was asked by a Supreme Court justice during oral argument about the labels' position with regard to ripping CDs his answer was: "The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their Website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward." MGM v. Grokster oral argument page 12 lines 1-7. So, at least according to the record labels, you can buy a bunch of used CD's and rip them to your heart's content.

No , it is not legal to copy. If you like the song, buy it, otherwise enjoy the station.

Recording music for personal use from airwave radio is unquestionably legal in the US; this was established as "fair use" in the Betamax decision by the US Supreme court. It's known as time-shifting, and it's the same principle as recording a TV show with a VCR or DVR. I would expect the courts to treat unencrypted internet radio similarly but I don't know if this has come up legally. For encrypted internet radio there might be DMCA issues.

I'm not a lawyer but time-shifting is very well established as legal; you shouldn't worry about it, at least for airwave radio.