Thanks, Nerd, for clarifying all of this. Since my dad used his copies for teaching (English Lit survey classes, discussing the oral tradition) I mostly was aware of that angle of things (though I can safely say--since he's retired now!-- that he was probably less than proper all the time in regard to the law!). This is all a bit tricky of course when you love the old stuff and just want to learn it to sing it and preserve it. I understand the importance of things like copyright; esp when protecting the rights of musicians who are making a living... what's more difficult for me is the attempt by some to control what belongs to everyone. Sort of like this debate about patenting garden seeds so that farmers can't raise their own seed. But this is a matter of degrees and fine lines, and is probably thread creep anyway...

In any case thanks for the info on legal boundaries...