This post was published 3 years 5 months 13 days ago.
It\'s is possible that the information within this article is now out of date or updated.

In a move in the right direction Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry said UK music fans no longer face the threat of prosecution for copying their own CDs on to PCs or MP3 players, as long as the songs are only for personal use.

Currently anyone transferring music to portable devices breaks copyright laws, the music industry has traditionally turned a blind eye, however, in favour of targeting "professional" pirates.

"We believe that we now need to make a clear and public distinction between copying for your own use and copying for dissemination to third parties," said Mr Jamieson, whose organisation represents the UK’s record labels.
His message to the Commons select committee for culture, media and sport reflected this statement  "that we to make it unequivocally clear to the consumer that if they copy their CDs for their own private use in order to move the music from format to format, we will not pursue them".

Mr Jamieson also called for Apple – which makes the popular iPod portable music player – to open up its iTunes software so it is compatible with the technology of other manufacturers .Apples digital protection system means they the files are not usually compatible with other companies’ devices. He said iTunes’ dominant market share was "not particularly healthy" and said he "would advocate that Apple opts for interoperability".

Consumers in the UK pay 79p per track on iTunes and – generally – £7.90 for a full album, although this can vary according to the number of songs and the status of the artiste in question.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft and British Phonographic Industry said home counterfeiters now accounted for the majority of their investigations.

Chris Leckness (3547 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.