My cousin is doing a family tree for my fathers side of the family. He has put in alot of time on it and has gotten along ways on it.
Today, I received 2 DVD's or CD's whatever they are called that has documents and photos of stuff on the family tree that he has found. My question is, since they look like he burned them himself, is it possible for me to make copies of them to give to my kids? And if so, can I take them like to computer store to copy for me or Walmart?

yes and not sure

Ask him before copying. My relative charged a nominal fee only to help pay for some of the databases or documents he needed to continue.

Okay so I just need to ask him and its not messing with copyrighting? Thats what I am worried about.

I would be pissed if a family member charged me...I always share...I hate how people are so money hungry...its really sad...

Did your cousin actually bother to copywrite it? Otherwise, you don't need permission.

All you need to do is ask your cousin to burn a couple of copies for you if you send him the CDs and pay postage. He's just going to insert your CD and transfer the info from his computer to your CD, no big deal. Be sure to get the kind of CD he uses, though.

I'm betting he'd be happy to do so. :-)

Jan in VA

You should be able to do it in your own computer. Most computer now a days have capabilities to burn a CD.

Thanks everyone.

Genealogy is not an inexpensive hobby. There are charges for getting documents, charges for copying, making pictures, travel to different libraries/archives. I'm working on my DH's family tree and my SIL has said several times that she wants all the information when I'm done. I think she should at least offer to reimburse some of the charges.

I also do genealogy...and pay for all that goes with it...but I would do it anyways so I share with all of my distant family...many I have never met. I sent them the PDF's or pictures by email and they print their own. I am just glad others in the family share the interest even though they do not want to research...that is my hobby not theirs..its like quilting I make them for fun for my family not to be paid. I am just glad they like what I make and share my hobby by the smiles on their faces. I love this board because we all share not to make money from each other...we all share the same hobby and everyone here makes it fun...love sharing and seeing what others are doing and sharing.

I would really like to share a lot of things, but don't 'cause I can't afford to reproduce them. Paper, ink, cds all cost & extras are just not in my budget.

Airwick156, that was very sweet of your cousin to share the results of his research with you. Not everyone, as I have been finding out, is willing to do that.

My cousin Joe is GREAT. He has given most of us the DVD or CD whatever they are for free just because. He has also given us all access to his ancestory account too.

Put the cd in your computer. you may have to bring up the ancestry.com program to read it. Once your computer can read it find the word print. make sure you have plenty of ink and paper.

Copyright is implied with the written word, but he doesn't own the copyright to the documents themselves.

It's just nice if you ask him if he minds you making copies for the kids, he did go to a LOT of work to research the information, and no little expense if he did it as I do, with Ancestry.com, and trips to Salt Lake City to go to the LDS Family History Library...I can't imagine that if he gave them to you with no charge that he'd want to charge you for copies for the kids...

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My computer has a tool bar across the top, and one of them, the "FILE" one, has a place to click that says "Copy CD". And the original one stays the same. Then I tell it to eject that one, put in a blank one and I can put that copy on the new disk.

get someone that knows what they are dioing, you can get cd burner to do it, but with my genealogy stuff, I'd reather get someone to do it for me instead of ruining stuff I don't want to get ruined. um find someone that will do a trade/ table runners, gifts for christmas etc. cause some will charge, but again if you can get someone that will trade????

Yes you can copy it. Do you have space to download it onto your computer? Then all you have to do is insert a different disk into your computer and copy it onto the new disk.

You can burn CD's no problem - I think you have to have a special thing to burn dvd's if you can even burn dvd's. Edie

I think I would ask the cousin if it is okay with them, that you would like your kids to have a copy. If they shared it with you, I doubt they will have a problem with sharing with your children.
I also agree that this is an expensive hobby, I have been doing genealogy for years and have had a lot of fun with it. Shared my information with several "found" family members, until I started noticing they were publishing without paying attention to dates (entering incorrect data on the ancestry website)

Ditto to your post!! More fun and family gatherings make it worth while and no charge! Love this board!

as one who does genealogy the only thing I ask and don't get often...is pictures from their stash...

I have a question. My mother planned to spend a winter doing genealogy but passed away before she finished. She did have some old family genealogy books which were printed by relatives from years ago. She gave some extra copies to libraries etc. One looks like it is the only one, no extra copies. Would it be advisable to scan it and offer it online to others?

My second love....family history. (I have 7000+ relatives in my personal family tree.)
I would take them to an office supply and have them copy them if you copies of the documents. or maybe they can burn the CD for your kids. I keep both CD and paper copies.

I believe it is legal to copy them, as long as there is no patent on them. However, one caveat: always make a hard copy, too, since discs get damaged and formats change often. I am a genealogist and have first-hand experience of the grief it can cause not to have a hard copy of your information. All my genealogy stuff (and it is considerable!) is now backed up by Mozy Pro.

Have you told her this? Most people who haven't done any genealogy work have no clue what goes into getting all that information. Most genealogists are very generous in sharing their information, but an exchange is always nice. If the exchange is one-way, though, the receiver should offer to pay some of the cost. But you have to be up-front with her - she can't read your mind.

I am my families historian and by all means YES you can make copies of the CD's to share with other family members that is what we make them for. Sure we do a lot of research and yes it takes a long time and sometimes a lot of money but that is our choice and the choice of offering him some money to help him out is a good idea but by no means should he or any family historian ever charge to do the work unless it's for someone else family.

I have spent years collecting information the would have other wise be lost and/or forgotten. The whole point of me collecting this stuff is so I can SHARE it with all my family.

So the answer is YES!!! BY ALL MEANS, PLEASE DO SHARE!!!!

Yes if it has family members the aren't living. I DO NOT EVER post family information on anyone that is still living.

well....as for charging...I find it expensive to make copies of documents and family group sheets. So glad the CD was born. now i can burn it to CD and they can pay for their own copies if they want. hope that doesn't sound crass, but with the info that I have collected for almost 40 years, it would take 4 ink replacements plus the paper and the mailing....just too much.

You could save it to your computer - perhaps as a WORD file, then email a copy of that file to your children, and they can save it onto USB stick or their own CD or DVD, if they wish.

My great uncle and great aunt (brother and sister) worked on our family tree for years. They were able to track it back to our first ancestors that arrived here, sometime in the 1600s, I believe. He has compiled at least two or three hefty printed and bound volumes. He did ask to be reimbursed for his printing fees-I believe about $10 per volume? He is currently working on the third or fourth volume. I have absolutely no problem reimbursing him for his fees.

I do the family history in my family and love what you are thinking of doing. Go for it! Share with your children. Thank everyone in the family who helps you retrieve information.

I have been trying to trace my deceased husband's family for over 50 years. Can't get to first base!! It is so frustrating as I have offered and offered to pay big bucks to share information. Get nothing. Right now I don't even know the exact birth and death dates of his parents nor even the exact name of the grandparents.

This is a good thing you want to do. Good luck!

If you are worried, ask him. Since he is sharing copies, I bet he would be happy for you to share it with more family members. Chances are, your kids know how to burn a copy. Call them on the phone and they can probably walk you through the easy process of copying a CD or DVD.

Check his military records. If you could find his parents on a census, that would give you a rough idea of their ages. Try to think where they lived and check out censuses for those areas first. For some areas there are even printed census indexes (which aren't 100% accurate - some people did get left out - but will give you a start). How about affiliations... was his dad a Mason or Knight of Columbus? Their ages should be on their death certificates. Keep trying, my friend, there are records out there somewhere. I have a few ancestors who I think must have sprung from the head of Zeus, full-grown, or maybe they were raised in an eagle's nest... or they carried brooms with them and covered their tracks. But keep on looking, and you will find something. And listen to thoughts that come to you late at night or in dreams. I've had some very interesting and profitable follow-ups from these.

I agree printing all the information is costly and I wouldn't do it either unless they paid for the materials to do so but to make a Cd is fairly cheap so I have no problems with that. I also have made CD's for family members as a Christmas presents, and it was way cheaper then anything else I could afford at the time. I have 13 brothers and sisters and it's hard affording things sometimes. With the CD's not only are they getting a look at where they came from, in some cases I made short videos of some of the pictures from way back when. So they were able to take some time later and see what our elders looked like and see how they lived compared to what we have today. Most of my siblings loved their CD's. Some don't care about pass family history so much but they got a kick out of the picture shows.

Ask a grandchild to do it, or, if that's not practical, ask a neighbor's kid. Works for me!

I wanted to get into family tree stuff a few years back and was astounded at the cost. It's understandable, when you think about it. You have to be ready to put in a LOT of time, too.

On the positive side, one of DH's cousins did her family tree and came up with a lot of relatives she keeps in touch with. I'd love to be able to do that!