To "space shift" a recorded signal is to transfer it to an easily portable medium. You might, for example, transfer a few CDDA tracks to an mp3 player.

This is a nice term, because it avoids any connection with nasty ideas like "copying", "piracy" and "theft". "Are you allowed to copy that?" "I dunno, but I bet I can space shift it."

The concept of space shifting has legal approval, too. A court case (RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia, 1999) has interpreted the Audio Home Recordings Act 1992 as permitting it. The decision neatly defines a computer hard-disk as being not a music storage device, and since the Diamond Rio player itself doesn't employ the Serial Copy Management System, it is expressly left out of the Act.

This didn't prevent mymp3.com from getting sued for making music that users could demonstrate they had rights to (by allowing custom software to check a CD) available for download. This was effectively space shifting the music signal.

Contrast time shift.

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