The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 added chapter 10, "Digital Audio Recording Devices and Media,"† to Title 17 of the US Copyright Code. This act affirmed that personal home taping is legal, or at least that one cannot suffer suit for it, and protected consumers from suit for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings for noncommercial use.
The Audio Home Recording Act was significantly altered by the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The US Copyright Office provides a helpful summary‡ of the DMCA and its impact on copyright law.
†: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/92chap10.html
‡: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf