only in Canada

imactheknife said:

iPodNN | Canadian Board approves iPod, memory tax

idiots...

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I sent a letter to my MP this morning. I'm so bloody sick of this. Friggin idiots.

Another Conservative promise broken but not surprising knowing who Bev Oda likes to hang around....

http://www.conservative.ca/media/20050319-POLICY DECLARATION.pdf
"A Conservative Government will eliminate the levy on blank recording materials."

I'm about to start getting MP3s off p2p networks....

imactheknife said:

iPodNN | Canadian Board approves iPod, memory tax

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Again?!? I thought they just cancelled this a few years back (remember the iPod levy?) and they're doing it again? I think the best way to fight this is to just stop buying music and DVDs from the big record labels. Period. And let the labels know that you will no long support them by buying CDs or DVDs.

All the music I buy and support (for the past 5 years), has been from unsigned and indie artists. I think they're better than most of the junk I hear on the radio anyway.

E-mailed my MP. I'm disgusted.

Some more detailed info here:

globeandmail.com: Retailers call iPod levy a 'tax'

An extra $75 for anything more than 30GB...

Just sent my (unfortunately tax-loving NDP) MP a letter.

This will lead many to think that downloading copyrighted content is now "legal" as you have already paid the levy/tax.

As usual, be careful what you wish for - it may come true!

It might be okay if the levy gave us an iTunes music store credit of one dollar per dollar of levy. ;-)

[sigh]

Perhaps we need to write to Steve Jobs as well and let him know that he may see the numbers of sales from iTunes drop from his Canadian customers.

If this goes through, what would entice me to keep buying music/videos when I now have to be taxed up the ying yang to enjoy it on a digital device?

I love it when a government encourages to STEAL copyrighted material in favour of a tax levy. Only in Canada indeed!

Heading South

To easy, head south of the border and make all your purchases in the US. With the dollar strong and no tax levys in most states. Feast.

I can't even talk about this anymore.. I get so stinkin worked up over it.

ArtistSeries said:

Another Conservative promise broken but not surprising knowing who Bev Oda likes to hang around....

http://www.conservative.ca/media/20050319-POLICY DECLARATION.pdf
"A Conservative Government will eliminate the levy on blank recording materials."

Click to expand...

To be fair, I don't think the Conservative government had a direct hand in this decision. It was made by the Copyright Board of Canada (and is being appealed), which consists of a five member panel: Copyright Board of Canada : Board Members ... Keep writing your MP's, though, as the board may have government oversight (maybe someone will correct me on this). And of course, the government can always change copyright laws to make them more fair to consumers (we can always hope).

Roosterboy said:

To easy, head south of the border and make all your purchases in the US. With the dollar strong and no tax levys in most states. Feast.

Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing; with this tax coming into play at the exact same time that the Canadian dollar is enjoying renewed strength, this will force many to go south of the border for the mp3 player of choice.

Way to go - killing Canadian retail!

Shameful, utterly shameful.

They tried this with blank DVDs and CDs, I think it was also struck down after a little while. Can only hope this stupid tax gets struck down also.