But consider this: If you purcase a Revolution, you can download older games for free and enjoy them at home. But what if you buy the Revolution and download the same games as ROMs for the PC, so you can enjoy playing them on your laptop when traveling? Some of us have a long way to work, and try to *ahem* do some work on a laptop. Or maybe you go on vacation and want to bring your favourite SNES Final Fantasy with you. (FF5 is the second best FF to date, even today.) Is that legal? I mean you do own a Revolution and can download the same games for it completely free of charge.
Or let's say you own a SNES, never got too bored with FF5 until one day the cartridge stopped working. Let's face it, you can't just drop your local game store and purchase a new one. You could try to get it from the internet, but it's hard work. You do own a SNES, and you do own FF5. Can you download a new copy from the internet, or do you have to pay for a new copy? :? Technically, it's illegal since you need a new license. It's the same way your office can purchase a single copy of MS Office and install it legally on fifty computers. All they need to buy is the licenses.
But if you do purchase MS Office private, it's your copy and you can do whatever the heck you want with it as long as you don't give it away, or alter it and resell it as your own work. (eg. you can't hack, change various things, call it MS My Office and tell people you made it.) Technically, with only once license, you can't install it on two computers in your own home if there is a risk both versions will be used the same time. However, you can install it on your own home computer and laptop and only use one copy at a time, as long as you know no one will use your home computer or laptop the same time as you.
Which brings us to ROM's. You can purchase a SNES game, use something to extract the game onto a computer and play it there - as long as no one uses the cartridge the same time. But with this in mind, is it really that illegal to skip all the hard work and download a new copy from the net? :?
I love working as a lawyer. Technically, you can get away with more or less anything if you have three basic "skills". You need to know how to "stretch" the law, a quick mind to always have a response ready, and guts to keep calm.