“Copy-control” Anathema to Consumers

Study shows consumers will avoid them:

Music companies thinking of distributing copy-protected CDs to protect their content from piracy will likely raise the ire of consumers while lowering their revenue, a new study warns.

According to a survey recently released by GartnerG2, the research service of Gartner/Dataquest, 77 percent of respondents thought they should be able to copy CDs for personal use in another device. Also, 60 percent said they should be able to give copies of CDs to members of their families.

Meanwhile, 82 percent of respondents said that they should be able to copy CDs for personal backup purposes.

Restricted Use
The results fly in the face of efforts by the music industry to gain tighter control over their content as they face the perilous, infinite possibilities for copying in the digital age. But while the ghost of such free file-sharing services as Napster still haunt the halls of Hollywood, Gartner discovered that consumers do not think copy-protected CDs are the answer.