What's a pirate tax? In Canada, for every CD-R that's sold, there is a $0.21 tax. Actually, in Canadastan, they call it a levy, because the money doesn't go to the government coffers, it's sent to the RIAA "directly".

Do the math - buying a spindle of 100 blank discs, you donate more money than a brand new CD "album" costs. Is there a CD and a half worth of "stolen" music in there when you're done with them? Or, not only is it possible to use those discs for legal purposes, but I think most people do.

Dvorak wrote

So who does this tax/levy benefit? Does it benefit the small starving artist who might actually have more pirated music out there because of distribution problems? Of course not. It benefits a few supergroups who are already loaded, and it benefits the big-record-company executives looking to upgrade their jet fleets to something more comfortable. Small fry need not apply.

They are in Switzerland for some years too, and I hate it...
When I buy a DVD-R disc, I pay them, when I buyed the DVD-RW drive, I payed some, when I buyed 3 750Gb HDD for my file server, I've payed some more, when I rent my Xeon server, I pay some.
Heck, even when I pay my internet access, I pay some too.

This is becoming ridiculous. If at least it would not go in the RIAA like directly, I would support it, but there !?
My Raid-5 file server hosting mostly videos of my daughter, DB files and development projects, what does it relate to them !?
I don't buy CD. I don't listen to radios. I do not like most of what I hear in the public places, on the tv screens or in other peoples car.
What I like to listen to, I have buyed cd's, but it was 4 years sooner. I've seen nothing really interesting since.
Maybe the last Gnarls Barckley, but I'll listen to it first. And when Royksoyp will release theyr next album, I will buy it too.
But for now, thanks but no thanks, nothing much exciting.

The worst is the way they pile it up.
On the reader, on the writer, on the support, on the access....
I know some peoples whose defense line now are "hey, I payed my taxes, at least now I can use my Ipod freely !"

Let me understand this right, it's a tax on blank cd's sent to a private for profit organization because cd-r's can be used in an activity that hurts their bottom line?

That almost sounds illegal to me, at least unethical.

Originally Posted by ECSuite_Russell

Let me understand this right, it's a tax on blank cd's sent to a private for profit organization because cd-r's can be used in an activity that hurts their bottom line?

At least here, it's exactly that.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/11/s...audio-players/

And not only cdr, but dvd, mp3 player, pvr, dvd recorder, hard disks, usb keys, computer ram....
Everything that can serve to hold numeric datas are taxed.

From 1 March 2006, producers and importers of digital recording devices like MP3 players, iPods and video receivers with internal hard drives will pay a levy on the non removable memory storage media incorporated into such devices.
This new levy is designed to remunerate authors for private copying on hard drives and microchips.
The levy is graduated depending on the type and capacity of the storage media :

a) for flash memory (e.g. MP3 players, mini iPods etc.)
with less than 512 Megabyte (MB) storage capacity CHF 0.0253 pro MB
with less than 1 Gigabyte storage capacity CHF 0.0178 pro MB
between 1 and 2 Gigabyte storage capacity CHF 0.0145 pro MB
between 2 and 4 Gigabyte storage capacity CHF 0.0078 pro MB
with 4 Gigabyte storage capacity and over CHF 0.00467 p. MB

b)
for hard drives in audio recording devices (e.g. in MP3 jukeboxes and iPods): for each 1 Gigabyte storage capacity CHF 0.469 c)
for hard drives in audiovisual recording devices: for each 1 Gigabyte storage capacity (e.g. set top box, PVR, DVD player with hard drive) CHF 0.346

This new levy will also remunerate authors, at last, for private copies on hard drives and microchips.
A similar levy has existed since 1993 for analog carriers like cassette recorders and VHS video recorders and, since 2002, for blank CD-Rs and DVDs.The new levy for storage media in MP3 players and recorders with non removable hard drives is moderate.

http://www.suisa.ch/en/nc/news/old-n...d-harddisc-re/
For comparison, today, 1$ = 1.05 CHF

Yup, if you pay the "tax" you should be able to get your music/movies for free.. You already paid for them..

Originally Posted by Feydakin

Yup, if you pay the "tax" you should be able to get your music/movies for free.. You already paid for them..

That sounds like a legitimate suit to file. You just need the proper group of hungry attorneys to take a class action suit of this magnitude to completion. Sue the RIAA and anyone who benefits from the tax for open license to the music in the countries in question.

Photographers have been up in arms about this ever since digital. An average photo from my camera weighs 15 mb, and people take a lot of them. It's a lot easier to shoot a few slight variations to go back to a scene... Everything needs to be archived, so people chew through a lot of media. The recording industries really isn't entitled to my money every time I want to make a photo backup!

Originally Posted by Feydakin

Yup, if you pay the "tax" you should be able to get your music/movies for free.. You already paid for them..

Aren't there supposed to be copyrights or something that has to be paid for as well? and those have tax as well. cause if there were none, it wont be called piracy anymore

They wave the pirate tax if you copy Pirates of the Caribbean 2?

And why is so much of our intellectual property not at all intellectual?