The music industry this week condemned the launch of two recording systems that will let people copy between 30 and 100 hours of music onto a single disc. The launches, from electronics giants Sony and Philips, are being seen as a potential pirates' charter.
"It's a no-brainer. Anything which lets people pirate more music like this has to be very bad news for the music industry," says a spokesman for Britain's record industry trade association, the BPI.
The launches come as the global music industry suffers its worst downturn since the CD format was introduced. Free online downloading and disc copying have been widely blamed for the slump in sales.
Sony's system will use the ultra-efficient data compression system used in MiniDiscs, to squeeze 30 hours of MP3 music onto a single blank CD. The discs will play on a new generation of personal stereos, which cost less than £100. Philips's system uses a computer DVD recorder to save at least 100 hours of MP3 music on a blank DVD, which will play on a new portable DVD player.
Business model
Why Sony should want to launch a recorder that might make piracy easier may seem surprising, as its Sony Music division makes and sells CDs. While Sony Music did not want to comment on its sister company's launch, Mike Tsurumi, a president of Sony Consumer Electronics in Berlin, insists that the move makes sense. "The music companies need to change their business model," he says.
Tsurumi's colleague Simon Mori expects people to move towards downloading and paying for music from official music websites. One such site, dotmusic.com, was launched last week by telecoms company BT and 30 record firms, though at £1.49 per track, buying music this way is hardly cheap.
The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry, which is relentless in its pursuit of music pirates, has not yet said how it will react to the new recorders.
