III
We first consider whether the Rio is able directly to reproduce a digital music recording -- which is a specific type of material object in which only sounds are fixed (or material and instructions incidental to those sounds). See id.
A
[3] The typical computer hard drive from which a Rio directly records is, of course, a material object. However, hard drives ordinarily contain much more than "only sounds, and material, statements, or instructions incidental to those fixed sounds." Id. Indeed, almost all hard drives contain numerous programs (e.g., for word processing, scheduling appointments, etc.) and databases that are not incidental to any sound files that may be stored on the hard drive. Thus, the Rio appears not to make copies from digital music recordings, and thus would not be a digital audio recording device under the Act’s basic definition unless it makes copies from transmissions.
[4] Moreover, the Act expressly provides that the term "digital musical recording" does not include:
a material object-
(i) in which the fixed sounds consist entirely of spoken word recordings, or
(ii) in which one or more computer programs are fixed, except that a digital recording may contain statements or instructions constituting the fixed sounds and incidental material, and statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in order to bring about the perception, reproduction, or communication of the fixed sounds and incidental material.
Id. S 1001(5)(B) (emphasis added). As noted previously, a hard drive is a material object in which one or more programs are fixed; thus, a hard drive is excluded from the definition of digital music recordings. This provides confirmation that the Rio does not record "directly" from "digital music recordings," and therefore could not be a digital audio recording device unless it makes copies "from transmissions."
B
The district court rejected the exclusion of computer hard drives from the definition of digital music recordings under the statute’s plain language3 (after noting its "superficial appeal") because it concluded that such exclusion "is ultimately unsupported by the legislative history, and contrary to the spirit and purpose of the [Act]." RIAA I, 29 F. Supp. 2d at 629. We need not resort to the legislative history because the statutory language is clear. See City of Auburn v. United States, 154 F.3d 1025, 1030 (9th Cir. 1998) ("[W]here statutory command is straightforward, `there is no reason to resort to legislative history.’ " (quoting United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S. 1, 6 (1997))). Nevertheless, we will address the legislative history here, because it is consistent with the statute’s plain meaning and because the parties have briefed it so extensively.4
1
[5] The Senate Report states that "if the material object contains computer programs or data bases that are not incidental to the fixed sounds, then the material object would not qualify" under the basic definition of a digital musical recording.5 S. Rep. 102-294 (1992), reprinted at 1992 WL 133198, at *118-19. The Senate Report further states that the definition "is intended to cover those objects commonly understood to embody sound recordings and their underlying works." Id. at *97. A footnote makes explicit that this definition only extends to the material objects in which songs are normally fixed: "[t]hat is recorded compact discs, digital audio tapes, audio cassettes, long-playing albums, digital compact cassettes, and mini-discs." Id. at n.36. There are simply no grounds in either the plain language of the definition or in the legislative history for interpreting the term "digital musical recording" to include songs fixed on computer hard drives.
[6] RIAA contends that the legislative history reveals that the Rio does not fall within the specific exemption from the digital musical recording definition of "a material object in which one or more computer programs are fixed." 17 U.S.C. S1001(5)(B)(ii). The House Report describes the exemption as "revisions reflecting exemptions for talking books and computer programs." H.R. Rep. 102-873(I) (1992), reprinted at 1992 WL 232935, at *35 (emphasis added); see also id. at *44 ("In addition to containing an express exclusion of computer programs in the definition of `digital musical recording’. . . .") (emphasis added). We first note that limiting the exemption to computer programs is contrary to the plain meaning of the exemption. As Diamond points out, a computer program is not a material object, but rather, a literary work, see, e.g., Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp., 714 F.2d 1240, 1249 (3d Cir. 1983) ("[A] computer program . . . is a `literary work.’ "), that can be fixed in a variety of material objects, see 17 U.S.C. S 101 (" `Literary works’ are works . . . expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as books . . . tapes, disks, or cards, in which they are embodied.") (emphasis added). Thus, the plain language of the exemption at issue does not exclude the copying of programs from coverage by the Act, but instead, excludes copying from various types of material objects. Those objects include hard drives, which indirectly achieve the desired result of excluding copying of programs. But by its plain language, the exemption is not limited to the copying of programs, and instead extends to any copying from a computer hard drive.
Moreover, RIAA’s assertion that computer hard drives do not fall within the exemption is irrelevant because, regardless of that portion of the legislative history which addresses the exemption from the definition of digital music recording, see id. S 1001(5)(B)(ii), the Rio does not reproduce files from something that falls within the plain language of the basic definition of a digital music recording, see id. S 1001(5)(A).
2
The district court concluded that the exemption of hard drives from the definition of digital music recording, and the exemption of computers generally from the Act’s ambit, "would effectively eviscerate the [Act] " because "[a]ny recording device could evade [ ] regulation simply by passing the music through a computer and ensuring that the MP3 file resided momentarily on the hard drive." RIAA I, 29 F. Supp. 2d at 630. While this may be true, the Act seems to have been expressly designed to create this loophole.
a
[7] Under the plain meaning of the Act’s definition of digital audio recording devices, computers (and their hard drives) are not digital audio recording devices because their "primary purpose" is not to make digital audio copied recordings. See 17 U.S.C. S 1001(3). Unlike digital audio tape machines, for example, whose primary purpose is to make digital audio copied recordings, the primary purpose of a computer is to run various programs and to record the data necessary to run those programs and perform various tasks. The legislative history is consistent with this interpretation of the Act’s provisions, stating that "the typical personal computer would not fall within the definition of `digital audio recording device,’ " S. Rep. 102-294, at *122, because a personal computer’s "recording function is designed and marketed primarily for the recording of data and computer programs," id. at *121. Another portion of the Senate Report states that "[i]f the`primary purpose’ of the recording function is to make objects other than digital audio copied recordings, then the machine or device is not a `digital audio recording device,’ even if the machine or device is technically capable of making such recordings." Id. (emphasis added). The legislative history thus expressly recognizes that computers (and other devices) have recording functions capable of recording digital musical recordings, and thus implicate the home taping and piracy concerns to which the Act is responsive. Nonetheless, the legislative history is consistent with the Act’s plain language -- computers are not digital audio recording devices.6
b
[8] In turn, because computers are not digital audio recording devices, they are not required to comply with the SCMS requirement and thus need not send, receive, or act upon information regarding copyright and generation status. See 17 U.S.C. S 1002(a)(2). And, as the district court found, MP3 files generally do not even carry the codes providing information regarding copyright and generation status. See RIAA I, 29 F. Supp. 2d. at 632. Thus, the Act seems designed to allow files to be "laundered" by passage through a computer, because even a device with SCMS would be able to download MP3 files lacking SCMS codes from a computer hard drive, for the simple reason that there would be no codes to prevent the copying.
[9] Again, the legislative history is consistent with the Act’s plain meaning. As the Technical Reference Document that describes the SCMS system explains, "[d]igital audio signals . . . that have no information concerning copyright and/or generation status shall be recorded by the[digital audio recording] device so that the digital copy is copyright asserted and original generation status." Technical Reference Document for the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, II-A, P 10, reprinted in H.R. Rep. 102-780(I), 32, 43 (1992) (emphasis added). Thus, the incorporation of SCMS into the Rio would allow the Rio to copy MP3 files lacking SCMS codes so long as it marked the copied files as "original generation status." And such a marking would allow another SCMS device to make unlimited further copies of such "original generation status" files, see, e.g., H.R. Rep. 102-873(I), at *47 ("Under SCMS . . . consumers will be able to make an unlimited number of copies from a digital musical recording."), despite the fact that the Rio does not permit such further copies to be made because it simply cannot download or transmit the files that it stores to any other device. Thus, the Rio without SCMS inherently allows less copying than SCMS permits.
c
[10] In fact, the Rio’s operation is entirely consistent with the Act’s main purpose -- the facilitation of personal use. As the Senate Report explains, "[t]he purpose of[the Act] is to ensure the right of consumers to make analog or digital audio recordings of copyrighted music for their private, noncommercial use." S. Rep. 102-294, at *86 (emphasis added). The Act does so through its home taping exemption, see 17 U.S.C. S 1008, which "protects all noncommercial copying by consumers of digital and analog musical recordings, " H.R. Rep. 102-873(I), at *59. The Rio merely makes copies in order to render portable, or "space-shift," those files that already reside on a user’s hard drive. Cf. Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417, 455 (1984) (holding that "time-shifting" of copyrighted television shows with VCR’s constitutes fair use under the Copyright Act, and thus is not an infringement). Such copying is paradigmatic noncommercial personal use entirely consistent with the purposes of the Act.
