Customers shun protected CDs

Life

1 April 2005

Music companies beware — distributing copy-protected CDs to protect content from piracy is likely to annoy consumers and lower your revenue.

A new survey recently released by research service GartnerG2 shows that 77 percent of respondents thought they should be able to copy CDs for personal use in another device, while 60% said they should be able to give copies of CDs to members of their families.

Meanwhile, 82% of respondents said that they should be able to copy CDs for personal backup purposes.

The results fly in the face of efforts by the music industry to gain tighter control over their content as they face the infinite possibilities for copying.

Not only do the copy-protected CDs limit users options, they also limit their mobility. In some cases, the protected CDs cannot be played in more than one of the consumer’s CD players.

These restrictions are likely to frustrate users, possibly resulting in a decline in revenue for the record companies, the researcher said.

The study also found that 74% of those surveyed believed that if the music companies must distribute copy-protected CDs, they should contain warning labels.

While the music industry has raised the issue of copy-protected CDs in recent months, few CDs have so far been released with the copy protections included. However, as the industry faces growing piracy thanks to the added ability to make digital copies of music by burning CDs, such measures could become more widespread.

18/02/2003

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