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The story I linked to yesterday makes excellent reading and certainly leaves me wondering at the lobbying power of the recording industry in Australia.

But what's happening here in NZ?

Has anyone laid the same complaints at the door of the Commerce Commission, and if not, why not?

We all know that the industry's new "enhanced audio disks" are widely described and sold as "CDs" even though they don't meet the official specifications for this standard. That's got to be a breach of the Fair Trading Act insomuch as the goods are incorrectly described.

Then there's the reasonable expectation that the disks will play on any DVD, car stereo or computer that carries the "Compact Audio Disc" logo.

Clearly, many of these Aussie-sourced discs don't play on such gear, so once again one would assume that the Fair Trading Act is being breached.

Now we know that *our* consumer protection organisation wouldn't possibly be influenced by industry lobbying -- so maybe it's time for us to lay the same complaint and perhaps get a precedent that our Aussie mates can use to strengthen their case.

Now don't get me wrong -- I'm certainly not in favour of music piracy. Even if you think CDs (oops, sorry, "enhanced audio disks") are too expensive or they contain crap, that's no justification for unauthorised copying. As a consumer, you always have the choice to simply not buy something that you don't feel offers value for money.

However, I get really pee'd off when something I pay good money for won't play on my latest piece of audio gear and the only way I could possibly listen to it in my car or my PC is to break the law by downloading and burning a ripped copy as well.

So who's going lodge the complaint?

Maybe the exact wording of the complaint should be thrashed out first by a few people with a legal bent -- just to make sure there aren't any holes in the argument.

If you think you'd like to have some input, contribute to a discussion in the forums.

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