Downloading industry threatened by rise of new âphysical mediaâ
Representatives from Britainâs traditional downloading industry have urged the government to take swift action to stem the rise in popularity of so-called âphysical mediaâ which they say is crippling the livelihoods of on-line pirates everywhere and disadvantaging honest consumers, by obliging them to spend money in shops. âItâs scary, the shift in peopleâs sense of right and wrong,â said Per Lunkwill of Swedenâs Pirate Bay website. âOvernight weâve seen these kids deserting their Bit Torrent clients in droves, and hitting the record shops to buy these âCDsâ and âDVDsâ. I donât know what the worldâs coming to. If itâs all legal, whereâs the excitement, the rebellion? Our advertising revenue?â Analysts believe that todayâs youth are attracted to physical CDs largely by the sheer convenience of being able to buy the same favourite artistsâ songs again and again repackaged in endless âGreatest Hitsâ compilations. âWhat totally bums me out,â explained Danny Hair, 14, of Cheam, âis having a folder full of downloaded songs that are stuck in the same order. What I want is to be able to buy the same songs loads of times on CDs, all in a slightly different order. Maybe with a bonus track thrown in, in a perfect world.â It seems that consumers are also being lured by the instant gratification of âshoppingâ, mindless of the devastating impact this has on traditional pirates. Users are reported to be enthralled at the speed of data access â once a CD is âinstalledâ onto your music player, the whole album is available instantly, with none of this tedious waiting for pornography to finish taking up all your bandwidth. Spurred by the threat to their criminal livelihoods, the companies behind the largest bit torrent search engines have launched a campaign to remind Britainâs young people of the consequences of their law-abiding behaviour. A range of t-shirts has been launched, positioned near the entrance of clothing shops for easy theft, with the catchy slogan: âCD buying is killing piracy â and itâs legal!â