No, borrowing a CD from a friend (even without copying it) could, thanks to the very loose language applied to to copyrigth warnings, be illegal. Have you read the warning that is going to be put on CDs and DVDs soon (or has already, I don't buy the things often because I wouldn't use them much)?
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000."
Unauthorized distribution? Catch that? That means without the RIAA's consent you cannot even technically loan your CD out to a friend, not that anyone is going to stop you. The video game companies actually spent a whole heck of a lot of money suing people to stop used game sales in the mid-90s. Thankfully common sense prevailed and we aren't forced to pay full price for everything we buy, because if we were then the companies would have even less incentive to lower their prices.
And god forbid you want to play it in a club or party, because the RIAA can sue you if you didn't get permission to do that. And you won't get off for it, either, if they actually decide to go after you for it. So if you own a restaraunt you MUST pay someone to let you play music if you want that sort of atmosphere, or face the possibility of prosecution.
If anyone has ever worked at a video rental store (or did so during the VHS years, DVD may have changed things), they'll probably tell you that they pay 3-4 times as much for the same product the rest of us get just so they can rent it out.
But the most amusing part of it all is that games, music, and movies would not stop being made even if pirates were influential enough to crash all three of those industries. Never in a million years. Either the companies would change (purely digital distribution, to maintain control) or they'd simply collapse and be replaced by independents that work on smaller scales to create more unique and innovative products. They'd also make more money than they ever have before on a per-unit sold basis (musicians get almost nothing from CD sales and live off of concert and merchandise sales) except in teh most extreme cases. People would still make the products because some people do love their jobs, they just wouldn't be fed to us as a stream of mindless trash that cost too much money for too little entertainment.
Artists, programmers, actors and such wouldn't be out of a job if their respective industries collapsed. The suits who take the lion's share of the profit would be, though. They'd have to do something productive, instead of signing musicians to contracts that put them into debt while their on top of the world (see TLC after making the Waterfalls video), or contracts that take 50% of the income they earn (like anyone who got a job because of American Idol), or contracts that take the actual copyrights away from the creator and give them to the company. The RIAA is the worst, obviously, because they are dirty, rotten theives from top to bottom that leech off of people with actual talent and bleed them dry, but the RIAA isn't alone in this.
You do not have the right to never be offended.
