The "Blank CD-R Tax"

Someone told me today that Canada had imposed a tax (back in 1998) upon blank CD-R’s in the assumption that they would be used against the law and to provide some sort of compensation for the recording industry which would be deprived of the income of a legally bought CD.

I went to this site, Canadian copyright levy on blank audio recording media - or - The “Blank CD-R Tax” FAQ, to find out what really was true. Apparently this sort of ‘levy’ has already existed in the US since 1994 and European countries… Found this mildly disturbing. But also a relief.

If money I put into cds is being distributed to the recording industry anyway, then I feel considerably guilt for doing that which is more convenient - downloading, burning, compiling onto a CD-R. The largest portion of mp3’s I have anyway are ones I have encoded from CDs I’ve bought myself, perfectly legally. And then I’m paying money to combine it onto another CD into the order I want? Hrrrrh.