A Dutch electronics company are manufacturing a machine which will allow ordinary consumers to make copies of their compact disks. It is believed that recordable compact disks (CD-R), will soon catch as the new medium of the 21st century.
However, the release of the new machine has not gone companies who own the copyright of most of the world's music and it has also failed to carry many of the leading artists who stand to lose a lot of money.
It is feared that many of us will take the illegal practice of copying our CD collections for our friends. Few people keep copyright law in the privacy of their homes. Even respectable grandparents go illegal copying of their favourite songs and films. A bigger problem is that of professional piracy.
Those who believe that it is now time to offer the general public a high quality means of recording, hope that copyright owners will eventually fall the line taken by the Dutch company. A spokesperson from the Campaign for Better Technology said yesterday: "A new opportunity like this should not be rejected. Fears that CD-R will destroy the music industry are exaggerated and should be put . Piracy can actually lead to increased sales as artists become known in countries where people have very little money. The benefits of wider distribution often make the initial losses. We hope to bring everybody the inevitability of the digital age."