Is convert2mp3.net legal? - all information

The convert2mp3.net service has been widely used to convert and download online music and videos. The service has now been discontinued in a settlement before the Hamburg Regional Court.

Was convert2mp3.net legal?

There is some evidence that online converters and downloaders are legal, as was formerly offered by convert2mp3.net. But there are also some arguments against it:

• In contrast to illegal music providers like songs.to, convert2mp3.net did not host any content itself. The service only generated a download link to videos and music and converted them if necessary.
• According to copyright law, it is allowed to make copies of works for private purposes as long as they do not come from an obviously illegal source.
• The convert2mp3.net terms and conditions require that you make copies only for private purposes and that the user is responsible for checking whether the source of the video is an authorized distributor.
• So you could abuse the service to copy music and videos from illegal sources. With this clause convert3mp3.net tried to transfer the responsibility to the user.
• One problem with this is that despite this clause, it was not the user who made the copy, but convert2mp3.net.
• YouTube is often an illegal source. Users upload content without having distribution rights.
• The YouTube terms of use expressly state that videos may not be downloaded if there is no download button. We have summarized all information about downloads from YouTube in detail in a separate article.
• So you can see the fine line you are walking here. Accordingly, the legal process has led to a settlement.
• In contrast to many obviously illegal services that you can find on the Internet, the convert2mp3.net site had an imprint, by the way, based in Germany.
• One could accuse convert2mp3.net that the service made it possible to bypass effective copy protection mechanisms. That would have been clearly illegal. Truly effectively protected content, such as Watchbox videos, could not be downloaded at all with the service.
• Seen in this way, YouTube could again accuse it of having made the actual copyright infringement possible and of giving up effective, state-of-the-art copy protection.
• However, the GEMA trial against the Google group has only had limited success. It almost seems that a company of this size is above the law. So you'd better try to come up with the new facts.
• The Federal Association of the Music Industry is therefore taking aggressive action against stream ripping sites.

In the next few articles we will clarify whether Anjo.to and Vimeo downloads are legal.