iPod Fee Proposed For Canada

innocent_white_lamb writes "The Canadian Private Copying Collective is pushing for the implementation of an iPod fee in Canada to compensate them for 'losses' when people copy music to their digital music players. They have collected a fee from every CDR sold in Canada since 1997 and now want to extend that to digital music players. From the article: 'Some have argued that once they buy a CD they shouldn't have to pay again and again to listen to those songs — which they already purchased — on a personal compilation CD or on their MP3 player. But for people like Milman and Basskin, it's about recognizing the value of those works. "There has to be some sort of way to compensate the artist for the hours and the sweat and the blood and the tears and the extreme, extreme expense that goes into making music," Milman said.'"

Comments

Re:Aren't you paying for the song on iTunes alread

[The Archon V2.0]

In an ideal world, yes. You pay for something, you use it. But not these guys. They want you to pay for every format shift.

Indeed, while logically it should be the other way around. You should get a compensation off the original price for doing the work (converting to a different media) that logically is the job of the publisher (to publish the work in a playable format).

In fact we should move towards a model where the music you buy isn't in any playable format to start with.

If it wasn't playable to start with, it would be encrypted, since any nonencrypted format could be made playable simply by writing a player. It would play into their hands - they could sell you something you couldn't use until you bought the digital keys for their digital locks. And they've already gone through pains to establish that digital lockpicking is as vile a sin as robbing the poor sound engineers at gunpoint.

You buy the music in the non-playable distribution format, and then whatever you use to play it converts it to a suitable format.

Oh, they'd love that, because they'd require you to buy every shift you do. 100 transfers to your iPod for $x, 10 to your PC for $y, burn it to a CD for $z. They'd sell you the razor AND the blades.