At 09:07 AM 3/3/2004, Michael Unger wrote:
>On 2004-03-03 11:21, "Christoph Gartmann" wrote:
>
> > [...]
> >
> > These sticks are the real replacement of the former floppy disk. Every
> > platform supports it, the file format is simple, usage it simple. Tell me
> > what is better for the purpose of exchanging data.
>
>CD-RW?

...a network...?

Remember, we're not talking PC's here...

------
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Dan O'Reilly                  |  "There are 10 types of people in this |
| Principal Engineer            |   world: those who understand binary   |
| Process Software              |   and those who don't."                |
| http://www.process.com        |                                        |
+-------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

In article <Kcs1c.82707$ah.62100@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>, 
    "John Smith" <a@nonymous.com> writes:

> 
> Some moronic jusridictions (Canada) charge a levy on every blank CD because
> the music industry managed to get a bunch of bureaucrats convinced that most
> CD's are being used to rip off the recording artists. So the levy is charged
> on each CD, irrespective of the use of the CD.
> 
   I always wondered about that. If the cost of my blank CD includes a royalty
being paid to the artists then does that give me free reign to copy music onto
them?

   Is the levy actually in effect now? How much is the levy?

   I can still buy 20 packs of CD-Rs ( with jewel cases ) for under $20CDN, so I
take it the levy isn't all that high if it's there.

Dan O'Reilly wrote:
> At 09:07 AM 3/3/2004, Michael Unger wrote:
>> On 2004-03-03 11:21, "Christoph Gartmann" wrote:
>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> These sticks are the real replacement of the former floppy disk.
>>> Every platform supports it, the file format is simple, usage it
>>> simple. Tell me what is better for the purpose of exchanging data.
>>
>> CD-RW?
>
> ..a network...?
>
> Remember, we're not talking PC's here...


Some machines are not on networks for security reasons.

I'll grant you that CD-R may be cheap and relatively pervasive, but the
price of USB sticks are plummeting. Capacities of 2Gb are now hitting the
market in USB 2.0.


Some moronic jusridictions (Canada) charge a levy on every blank CD because
the music industry managed to get a bunch of bureaucrats convinced that most
CD's are being used to rip off the recording artists. So the levy is charged
on each CD, irrespective of the use of the CD.

Malcolm Dunnett wrote:
>    I always wondered about that. If the cost of my blank CD includes a royalty
> being paid to the artists then does that give me free reign to copy music onto
> them?


Technically , yes. The irony is that the artist won't see a cent of the
royalty you have paid becuse those funds go to large record companies and are
not redistributed to artists. A hige ripoff. 

The music industry now wants an ISP tax, thinking that the only use of the
internet is to download music.

Note that the precedent was blank VHS tapes that, according to the movie
industry, were used solely to illegally record and distribute movies. (They
had never heard of home movies or the practice of recording a program from TV
on a timer)

Brace yourselves for a hard disk tax since newer VCRs now record stuff on hard
disk drives.

What they need to do is go back to film instead of video, and vinyl records
instead of CDs :-)

Malcolm Dunnett wrote:
> In article
>     <Kcs1c.82707$ah.62100@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com>,
> "John Smith" <a@nonymous.com> writes:
>
>>
>> Some moronic jusridictions (Canada) charge a levy on every blank CD
>> because the music industry managed to get a bunch of bureaucrats
>> convinced that most CD's are being used to rip off the recording
>> artists. So the levy is charged on each CD, irrespective of the use
>> of the CD.
>>
>    I always wondered about that. If the cost of my blank CD includes
> a royalty being paid to the artists then does that give me free reign
> to copy music onto them?
>
>    Is the levy actually in effect now? How much is the levy?
>
>    I can still buy 20 packs of CD-Rs ( with jewel cases ) for under
> $20CDN, so I take it the levy isn't all that high if it's there.



Disclaimer:
I don't know for certain that the following paragraph is true:

Canadians are legally allowed to copy music for personal use. In exchange, a
small fee is added to the price of recordable CDs to compensate musicians
and music publishing companies. Similar "royalties" are collected in more
than 40 countries, including the United States under the Audio Home
Recording Act of 1992.


This is what was enacted in December 2003:

http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/news/c20032004nr-e.html

"....

Today's decision freezes all existing private copying levies at their
current levels. As a result, the current levies of 29� on audio cassette
tapes of 40 minutes or longer (no levy applies to tapes of shorter length),
21� on CD-Rs and CD-RWs and 77� on CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDiscs
will remain in effect until the end of 2004.

The Board also sets for the first time a levy on non-removable memory
permanently embedded in digital audio recorders (such as MP3 players) at $2
for each recorder with a memory capacity of up to 1 Gigabyte (Gb), $15 for
each recorder with memory capacity of more than 1 Gb and up to 10 Gbs, and
$25 for each recorder with memory capacity of more than 10 GBs......"



The "music industry tax" alone on CD's in Canada is more per CD than
Americans pay for a CD even after adjusting for the difference in currency
values.

I can buy a 100 pack of CD's from Staples or CompUSA on sale for $2.99 after
rebate. The music industry tax in Canada for the same 100 CD's is $21.00 CAD
or about $15 USD, and then there's the cost of the CD's themselves, making
the 'normal' cost of 100 non-branded CD's about $39-49, with brand name cd's
being more expensive than that.

And to add insult to injury, they charge sales taxes on top of the music
industry tax!!!



But so far the courts have basically told the RIAA to get stuffed when they
want to go after Canadians the same way they've gone after Americans for
downloading music. I guess all you have to do is have a stack of blank
royalty paid CD's in your house to prove 'intent' that you were just going
to burn them onto cd's for personal use.

John Smith wrote:

(snip)

> Some moronic jusridictions (Canada) charge a levy on every blank CD because
> the music industry managed to get a bunch of bureaucrats convinced that most
> CD's are being used to rip off the recording artists. So the levy is charged
> on each CD, irrespective of the use of the CD.

In the US I believe they only charge this on Music CD-R's for audio
CD record decks.   If I want to duplicate the CD's I write on my CD
recorder, I have to use a computer CD-R drive because of the SCMS
system.

Now, would I rather have cheaper CD-R's or prescription drugs?
I don't know about that one.  (A popular topic in the US is buying
cheaper (often US made) prescription drugs in Canada.)

-- glen