I know in the UK it is illegal to make backup copies of any media source.

e.g If I paid £15 for a CD and I want to listen to it on my mp3 player, I can't. By law I have to purchase the mp3's individually and then play them on my mp3 player, being careful not to distribute them to too many sources (usually a maximum of 2 or 3!). A recent Government Think Tank has said conversion should be made legal now and still the record companies are fighting it.

If I spent £40 for Lord Of The Rings (any of the 3 SE's) and I wanted to make a backup copy to watch, whilst keeping the original somewhere safe, I'd be breaking the law.

Therefore if you have a movie on VCR, legally you would have to buy the DVD (and the HD/Blu-Ray), and if you've got a PSP, again on UMD. Illegal to convert sources! Nice earner!

Funnily enough it's also illegal to record a show off the TV (check the copyright stuff at the very end!) and Broadcasters like sky and ntl are now adding Macrovision (or similar) protection to their Pay Per View so you can't record them.

Personally prefer Countries which actually have the Fair Use policy. ie you've already paid royalties so you should be able to do whatever you want to the source, except for illegal distribution.