Axe hangs over Euro copyright levy

The EU is poised to save consumer electronics firms hundreds of millions of Euros by cutting copyright levies on a range of products. The levy was introduced in the 1960s and was designed to compensate copyright holders for the emergence of new devices such as photocopiers and cassette recorders that facilitated widespread private copying for the first time. But according to an internal European Commission document seen by the Financial Times, the EU is concerned that the national collecting societies, which manage the levy, have extended it too far, applying it to devices such as portable music and DVD players. ...more

Bertelsmann/EMI merger would face EC concerns

EMI and Bertelsmann's music group BMG met yesterday in New York for further talks after their announcement of a possible merger on Friday. The proposal, however, will still have to overcome the EC's fears over a concentration of major labels. The deal would reduce the number of major labels from five to four - one of the EC's main concerns that led to the collapse of EMI's previously proposed merger with Time Warner. ...more

PC Pro Labs Correction - 3.5in SATA hard disks

In the Upgrade to Vista Labs in Issue 149 (March 2007, p110), we incorrectly printed that the Western Digital Caviar SE16 was available from www.sandisk.com. ...more

Warner Bros films coming to Blu-ray

Warner Bros has given a timely boost to Blu-ray by announcing that it will release films on the next-generation high-definition DVD discs next year. Warner had previously committed to making movies available on the rival format HD DVD and explained that the decision to hedge its bet was made after the two camps failed to reach agreement on a unified format. Warner's decision follows a similar commitment by Paramount to back Blu-ray and was welcomed by Blu-ray backers including Twentieth Century Fox and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. ...more

CD copy protection to rise

Record companies are preparing to increase the use of copy-protection on music CDs following a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that the number of CDs sold worldwide in 2001 fell by 6.5 per cent. The IFPI attributes much of the fall to, 'the increased availability of free music via mass digital copying and the Internet. ...more