Well, if you want to get technical, (And please correct me if I'm wrong here) when you buy a game, you don't OWN the software, you pay for the right to RUN said software; the software is still owned by the company that produced it. You know those End User License Agreements people always skip? Those EULA's outline all the rights you just paid for, and those rights don't typically extend to the duplication of the software, to be distributed however you wish. And this isn't just for games nowadays, I think it's always been that way. The physical mediums are simply a means to get the software to you, so the company holds up their end of the deal; You buy the license, they provide you a means to run the software. Now don't get me wrong. I've leaned toward the illegitimate side of software ownership in the past. However I now understand the implications of my actions; By downloading and running a COPY of something, I never payed for the right to do so. Using that logic, I don't do it anymore. Developers need to eat, too.
Now do you understand? Be honest.
I never clicked "I Agree" or signed an EULA for any of the console games I own, and these are one of the main areas people are talking about when they are discussing "ROMs". I am not too worried about my cartridges, but optical discs are very fragile and I have lost games I paid money to play, by whatever terminology you wish to use, because I did not have a backup. Those were console and computer games. I also made it clear that the situation I was talking about is making copies of games for personal use, not to redistribute. I said "not sharing with others".
I haven't "leaned toward the illegitimate side of software ownership". I "pirate" a lot of stuff. I "buy" a lot of stuff, too. Sometimes the stuff I "steal" is stuff I have already paid for, sometimes it is not. Frequently I buy games on carts that I really like even if I know no one will come after me for having an "illegal" copy because I want to have it on an original cartridge or 3. If I download a game that I have a "legal" copy of, and am only getting it for my own personal use who am I hurting? If I download a game I have paid for that is unusable in the original format on the intended system due to damage to the disc/cart, who am I hurting? If I make a backup, or dump a rom, for personal use, who am I hurting? Personal backups are the thing I don't understand being made illegal. If I have no "legal" rights to do what I want with my games then why would I bother paying for any of them? I have already paid for, as you explain it, the right to run the software. Shouldn't I be able to do that?
I almost never buy new games anymore, so you can take your idea of "developers need to eat" somewhere else. They get no money from the second hand market. Hell, they don't get enough of the money from original sales in many cases. Too many middlemen. I would rather get an "illegal" copy of the game and donate the asking price to the people that actually made the game, not everyone else who wants to take a cut, and, for companies like Walmart, that don't take care of their employees or the communities they are in. Developers need to eat. So does everyone else.
So I should just go with the "legal" digital distibution methods, right? Except then I don't even get the reassurance that I have a physical copy that I can play if there is a problem with anything, such as the distributor pulling it or going out of business.
Honestly, no, I don't understand why it would be illegal for a person to make a backup copy of games/movies/music/books/etc they have paid "to use" for their own use. It seems like these laws are there to support businesses, not indivduals who make or play games.
Edit: Can someone please move this and related posts to another thread to help keep this one on the topic of the wonderful work and effort of ptitSeb?
Stretching looks nice on this emulator on Pandora screen! 
