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Blank Media Prices Could Soar In Canada
kidlinux writes "The Canadian Coalition for Fair Digital Access (CCFDA) composed of businesses like HP, Apple, Best Buy, and Costco may consider pulling recordable media products like mp3 players, digital cameras, and associated media if a recording industry backed media levy is ratified. From the article "if the proposed levy is approved MP3 players such as Creative Labs's Nomad, RCA's Lyra, and Apple's Ipod will increase $112 or more on average". Blank CDs will go up from $50 (on which we already pay $21 in levies) to $88 dollars per pack of 100. The media levies have been getting worse and worse here. Personally, I think sales of above mentioned items will speak for themselves, however, the CCFDA's website has contacts for the Government of Canada's representatives - contact them with your objections!"
Just buy them mail order. $50 per 100 is already incredibly expensive. You can get 400 for $60 at places in the US.
Send me a check in the mail for whatever you want plus 5% commission and shipping charges and I'll send you back your buy.
1;
The actual place to find MP's emails is here. Imagine that, an editor not checking the links.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
So MP3 players go up $112 Canadian... that's, what, $5 US?
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Before they levy a media charge for pencil and paper.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Since they're music-industry prepaid, I can record any (RIAA) music I like legally on them, right?
I live in Canada. Unless you buy your blanks at chain stores like Future Shop, you won't pay 50$ for 100 blank CDs. I just bought a bundle of 100 for 18$ (all Canadian prices).
It's better to burn out than to fade away
The whole point of this "tax" is to cover the supposed cost of piracy. With money like that, they have no right to say you can't pirate - "Of course I can pirate, the cost to the recording industry was covered when I bought the blanks!"
...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
I could say the same thing of Americans,with 9/11....cept it would be deathbeds..
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Why are there not lawsuit against the RIAA and other "publishers" who are collecting money from these fees and making copy protected media.
If they are getting money, they should either get the fees or copy protection. Not both!
Fight Spammers!
I hope that Canada carries this policy to its logical conclusion:
Canada should ditch copyright completely. Artists could be paid a government stipend based entirely on popularity (wonderful deal for artists, let me tell you). The government can levy an 'Entertainment' tax in whatever manner it chooses.
HARK! I Hear an annoying coward whining!
Sounds like another opinionated american prick who likes picking on the little guy.
American forign policy... hmmm... makes you think, doesn't it?
A few years ago at a prior employer I had written a specification for an enhancement to a large financial application. It had much to do with cheque printing.
Just prior to printing multiple copies of this document for a meeting that was about to start while the printouts were still warm. I did a spell cheque on a machine that obviously had MS Word configured differently from mine
As the various copies are just about finished being passed around to the upper brass of my company and the client 's top brass; One of them asks "What are Tax Remittance Cheeses?"
At this point I was rather worried about my next payroll cheese
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
"If the customer so desires, you shall cut them a cheese..."
Oh yeah, and the US softwood lumber tarriffs just rock.
We've lost over 30,000 jobs in BC because of this, and you say we're whiney, look at the bush administration. At least our Prime Minister can spell, and knows the names of other country leaders.
Oh, and Bush IS a moron.
Maybe you should actually pay attention to what happens outside your country, the United States aren't exactly the world ya know?
Free means no restrictions, ironic the FSF's GPL forces restrictions, isn't it? What's your definition of free?
Perhaps the Canadian government is simply evening out the system. Here's how I see it. The media companies know that the dramatic surge in blank CD sales has to do with people making copies. That surge is obvious due to the number of spindles I see on store shelves that were not there three years ago.
So these media companies go complain to the government that they are losing revenue and that they expect the government to do something about it. The government considers the situation and decides to play Robin Hood.
We tax the blank media sales for about as much money as the difference between blank media and say a standard audio disc. That money goes proportionately to the media companies.
People get what they want.. the ability to make their own media discs and the media companies get compensated.
Fair is fair, eh?
No, you did a spell check that turned the word cheque to check.
Couldn't you buy a pack of CD's from a US retailer? Are the fees levied for anything that crosses the border despite it coming from America?
Ok, so if this goes ahead, what's to stop the big *software* companies getting their own levy added to this?
Then the photographers.
Heck, CDs can be used to record music or software that *I* produce, why can't I get some of that pie too?
- Muggins the Mad
Most of the CD's I burn (about 40 in the last month)
were, linux CD's (debian/mandrake/gentoo)
Audio (from mp3.com, there is nice stuff in Electronic/Ambient)
CD's of digital photos.
I shouldn't have to pay Britney Spears for my family photos.
And why do I have this ugly feeling that publishers get a 95% cut out of the artists' 25%, too.
Maybe I'm all wet on this, but it's perception, and I'll bet it's not limited to me. In the computing and software industry, we unfortunately know how perception is sometimes more importatnt that reality, though we also lament it.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Just as we went up north during prohibition to get our fix we're gonna have canadians coming down here to buy blank CD-Rs. $50 per 100?!?! I got 200 for $3-US (after rebates of course) at office max.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I'm the legalization of Marijuana in BC will more than make up for forest industry job losses. Especially when you add up the tariff free illegal exports to the USA.
Dear Members of Parliament,
I would like to take this opportunity to convey my objects to proposed changes to the Private Copying Tariff that I am forced to pay every time that I purchase recordable CD media. I am enraged that the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) and the Copyright Board are considering raising the tariff from it's current rate, of which approximately 51% of the retail cost is tariff, to an outrageous 75% of the retail cost.
This will result in direct cost increases to the Canadian consumers from approximately $39 per 100 CD-R to over $60!
The existing tarrif wrongly assumes my CD-R purchases are used for the purposes of music recording, instead of data backup and archival purposes, resulting in benefit to an industry which I personally do not support or purchase from anymore in protest for their extreme position with regards to media shifting and artist compensation.
The proposed increased tariff adds insult to injury and will result in my immediate boycott of the CRIA as well as active and energetic opposition to re election of ministers who would support such blatent extortion.
I suggest all members consider the past history of the RIAA in the US as they have been convicted of "price fixing" in maintaining artificially high consumer prices for music over the last decade. Their Canadian equivalent (CRIA) should be investigated for similar activities.
I thank you for your time and consideration; please summarily reject the CPCC proposal so that my rights, and those of my fellow Canadians, may not be unjustly abrogated.
Sincerely,
insert full name and address here
My question is, doesn't the government realize that they're shooting themselves in the foot too?
How many government agencies purchase recordable CD's. As DVD and CD-R's become more popular (as backup, etc), how will this increase?
How many government organizations are allowed to pirate? I work in schools, and every year one of the schools in the district gets audited/checked by the software police. Anybody I find with Kazaa gets a quick introduction to "add/remove programs" (and then ad-aware). We do use a fair amount of CD-R's, for either backing up data or ghost images, etc etc. As software is bought on a license basis, there can also be copies of the originals (that don't work without a valid key anyways), so that the masters can be kept safe.
So what happens when all the government-run sectors have to pay 4x the amount of recordable media? I think they might notice some problems there.
Jean: Mike, the server crashed again so we'll need to restore the backups.
Mike: Ummm, sorry Jean, ever since the tariffs went up we haven't been able to afford backup discs. We tried going back to tape but then they taxed that too. We still have our backup discs from 1999 though, will those work?
Everybody Happy! What a Coun-try!
a friend said he was a member and he could get 50 for 32 dollars. i don't think they are a good deal myself.
:)
here in surrey bc, pc alley sells 50 80min 48x for 25 bucks. they'll sell them 20 bucks if buy alot though.
futureshop was NEVER a good place to buy cds. staples, toys r us, and bigger computer stores are usually crap as they want profit. small stores can usually get them in big cities. if anyone needs blanks here in bc, i can mail em.
75757417 my icq #
blue tiger
Send me a check in the mail for whatever you want plus 5% commission and shipping charges and I'll send you back your buy.
You are aware, of course, that packages are opened and searched at the border, and your Canadian friends would probably end up paying the tax anyway.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
All these levies mean music piracy is, therefore, perfectly legal in Canada.
So quit whining.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"