I don't think there was such a tax in the US of A.  In Britain the lobbying 
of the industry was rejected. However, there was a tax on blank tape in 
Germany.  Presumably this still exists.

When CDR came out, the standalone format was more expensive because 
royalties were supposed to be paid.  Then the companies, e.g. Philips et al, 
admitted that they were not paying the royalties but simply pocketing the 
cash. Of course Philips had prewviously been complaining about people making 
illegal tape recordings and videos on philips recorders with philips tape, 
knowing that these machines had hardly any use except copyright violation.

SA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 12:20 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] SACD fans -- some discounts


> Also, am I mis-remembering or wasn't there a tax on blank tape that went 
> directly into music industry coffers to make up for missed sales? Blank 
> C-90's were $3+ when I got my first cassette deck. By the time I was 
> making my last cassettes in the early 90's, C-100's were down to $1 or so. 
> We're talking Maxell and TDK CRO2 tapes here, not junk.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bob Olhsson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 5:09 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] SACD fans -- some discounts
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From Rod Stephens: "...I vaguely remember in "the good 'ole days",
>> making copies and sharing music with my reel to reel machines and later
>> with my cassette recorders.  We then would buy the original LPs/45s of
>> the best of the best with good album notes and pictures.   Somehow the
>> recording industry seemed to prosper in those less restrictive and
>> creative days."
>>
>> This is comparing apples to oranges. People needed to meet up, make their
>> copies in real time, pay good money for blank media and a copy of the 
>> copy
>> was pretty raunchy sounding. We also didn't have investment bankers 
>> creating
>> new corporations having a "business model" of profiteering from 
>> facilitating
>> copyright infringement.
>>
>> Piracy is far from the only or even the biggest problem professional 
>> music
>> faces today but make no mistake about the fact that it has cost at least 
>> a
>> generation of youngsters any opportunity to have a career creating and
>> performing music. They and the music fans are the real losers.
>>
>> Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
>> Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
>> Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
>> 615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com
>>