Of all companies... this one knows!

Downloaders of the world unite! The record companies will never stop you. That’s the conclusion of a study by no less an august body than Microsoft. The software giant has issued a research paper, which predicts attempts to stop the online trading of MP3 files over the Internet are doomed to failure.

The paper, prepared for a workshop on controlling rights in the digital age, forecasts future “Napsters” will be too widespread and too well organized to shut down. Add to that the growing speed of CD and DVD burners, the expansion of high speed Internet access and the falling prices for storage devices, and record companies won’t win this fight.

Not that they haven’t tried. But the Redmond researchers are critical of those attempts as well – pointing out the infamous case of an anti-copying program that was defeated by using felt magic markers, or coding that causes CDs to stop, infuriating paying customers. Their conclusions: the file swappers have already won the war. And the only way for the music industry to fight back is to reduce the price of their products. But with the music moguls already reeling from their losses, that may be a move they literally can’t afford to make.