Dutch Plans for "iPod Tax" Could Kill MP3 Industry

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/27/netherlands_ipod_tax/' target='_blank'>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/27/netherlands_ipod_tax/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A Netherlands proposed tax on MP3 players could devastate sales of hard disk players, and set up international waves over copyright legislation. The tax is being proposed by the Stichting Thuiskopie foundation, and is set to become law in the Netherlands in a few short months unless the European Commission finds a reason to intervene. It is unlikely that will happen, as it has failed to come up with a policy for levy taxation so far. The idea of all levy based legislation is that some form of copyright collections agency collects tax by imposing a surcharge at the point of sale for any storage devices that could possibly be used to store pirated works. This certainly extends to the iPod which has up to 60 GB of storage, and which can store MP3 files."</i><br /><br />Nice, talk about not understanding how the marketplace works. Taxes are hard on emerging technology, but a double tax (tax on DRM files and then the player itself) would really hurt. Of course consumers will bear the brunt of it as usual. :?

[treo007]

Ah....Europe! Always looking to limit economic freedom at every turn. :roll:

[sonicspill]

More to the point how much Dutch music is pirated as opposed to UK and North American artists who prevail worldwide. Where does the tax go and how would they compensate the right people who's works being used.

No doubt the money would be fritted away on some Dutch music unemployed scheme. I lived in Holland for a year and although they love their jazz, jazz funk etc really any native Dutch music is not going to change the musical landscape for the better. Anyway they can just buy an ipod from somewhere else in europe to avoid the tax.

gavin

[Felix Torres]

Uh, guys...?
This is hardly unusual...

Canada has a similar tax. Consumers don't see it because retailers eat it in the form of lower discounts.
The US and most of the world has an *identical* tax on tapes and audio-branded CDs.

The real news isn't that Holland has one, but that in the age of EU "normalization" rules, the tax will very likely spread EU-wide.
If you want to gripe, there is your target.

Or, if you want to scratch your head, instead, consider that a judge in France has declared *all* copy-protection illegal and ordered the removal of all copy-protected DVDs from sale in the country. (The case was mostly about Macrovision anti-dvd-to-vcr copying, of all things. How's that for being on the cutting edge?)

http://p102.news.scd.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050426/ap_on_hi_te/france_dvd_copying

The judge *thinks* that this will result in un-protected DVDs replacing the protected ones.
Anybody want to guess?

I *mean*, we know french thought-processes are weird (Chirac just equated EU-expansion and economic and trade liberalization with communism! I guess free trade is only good when outsiders buy french stuff, not when the french buy better and cheaper foreign goods. And the french are about to vote against a EU consitution that they themselves wrote!) but still...
...the French market is hardly big enough for studios to take down their copy-protection only for them!

So, if you want to rip on the euros, be my guests; they do make themselves nice fat targets most of the time.
But focus on the "leaders" not the followers.

And watch out for tax-law "normalization" which will, of course result in everything that is taxed in one country being taxed in all of them, since governments don't give up existing taxes.

[treo007]

Uh, guys...?
This is hardly unusual...

Canada has a similar tax. Consumers don't see it because retailers eat it in the form of lower discounts.
The US and most of the world has an *identical* tax on tapes and audio-branded CDs.

Felix,

I appreciate your well thought out and informed opinion. I will say however that an existing, superflous tax should not beget and new, superflous tax as well.

**Quoted snipped by moderator JD: Please don't quite the entirety of long messages.***

[Felix Torres]

It shouldn't.
But it has.
And it will.

Politicians are like little kids (the ones that poop their diapers); what one does, the others copy.
Its a law of nature, like lemmings diving over clifts...

The world doesn't end, though.
Other industries survive silly taxation.
Digital music players will, too.
The "fun" has hardly begun.

Wait 'til you see what the eurocrats are cooking up next...
It'll really make your century. :twisted:

[klinux]

I *mean*, we know french thought-processes are weird.

I don't hold American thought processes in high esteem either.

It's too easy to pick and choose which laws/custom/practice/behavior you aren't familiar with and don't agree with and exaggerate it to something beyond rational.