So do they tax all hard drives, optical drives, optical media, tape backup devices, etc. based on the same logic?

If so, I'd love to see what the tax on a multi-terabyte disk array would be... ouch! :)

And if they argue that people are more likely to perform "private copying" on their iPod than on a disk array they should take a long hard look at the disks and disk arrays at most ISPs.

What a bunch of hosers...

...who buy CDs simply to rip them to a portable player in lossless quality...?

Perhaps we should just tax the players & offer free downloads/CDs with a quota to the artists for those requested ?

If they do start taxing mp3 players again and memory cards, then I guess I'll stop buying my music from iTunes and just pirate it. If you're going to treat me like a thief, then I might as well be a thief.

Fscking idiots.

By levying such heavy taxes on players, they would be stunting the growth of the industry in Canada.

And how would they distinguish MP3 players from other multi-function devices capable of playing MP3s, even if you don't use it for such, like most phones pushed by the carriers right now.

Not to mention memory cards. So what, professional photographers have to be taxed because of the potential for music ending up on their storage? I'd wager the large majority of memory cards sold never end up with MP3s on them.

This is sheer lunacy.

I've got two problems with these arguments (the articles, not the posters - yet, I'm sure I'll get to you all soon! Bwhahahahahahaha!)

1) They want to add memory cards to the list of taxed items. I can't say I've ever seen any audio player that uses removable memory cards for its music. With a reach on memory cards, you might as well charge a fee to every possible recording device out there. ("OMG, someone could print out the lyrics and music of a song! Let's tax paper!")

2) They want to tax the devices based on storage capacity. Does this make much sense? The size of the player does not directly reflect the amount of music (or stolen music - dum-dum-dum!) a user has. It just reflects the user's taste and need in a music player. For example, I want an iPod for jogging (OK, come on, let's play along and pretend I jog). I'd get a shuffle more-so then an iPod 80GB. Yet, that has no reflection on how much of my music has been illegally downloaded, ripped, burned, stolen, re-recorded, etc.

3) What of multi-use players. What if I want to buy an iPod to just watch video? I need a larger iPod for that. But because the files are much larger, also means that my potential video theft amount would be a lot less.

And going on madgunde's point, I don't understand how you can charge a tax on an item on the basis of 'potential' alone.

But, then again, doesn't Canada's laws also say that because of the levies, file-sharing is OK? In that case, we're all set. Well, we would be, except I'm not Canadian.

I've an idea: tax the CDs themselves. I mean, that's where all those illegally-shared MP3s come from in the first place, right?

why not tax the record companies for promoting lame a** artists sans backbones and giving away free mp3 players with real music on them including politically incorrect songs about gov'ts gone wild taxing everything thats new and applying a crushing blow to your soon to be teenager for crimes not commited and forces the stealing hand to further entice fresh new piracy recruits to the dark side...

...just wait till they raise beer taxes, OMG!!, then will see some anarchy for sure, these are the subjects that promote the opposite of what has been planned by the demi-gods of maple society...soon to be at an EU meeting near you...

They also believe we should pay for the privilege of transferring music from a CD to an iPod, whether or not it was stolen.

Fair use means nothing to these people and they believe we are all pirating criminals. Although testudo is incorrect in saying "Canada's laws also say that because of the levies, file-sharing is OK"* it's going to push a lot of people to steal music again because, well, they've already paid the CPCC to compensate for it.

*downloading music is legal in Canada because of an ambiguously written copyright act, not because of this levy.

Stick to Canada, thanks.

"Canadia"! Clearly intentional, so funny. Way to go MacNN!