Latest threat to music industry: the postal service?

IDC has warned of the music copying threat posed by a new service allowing large-scale CD swapping through the post

La La is a savvy new music site for helping people swap CDs via the US Postal Service, according to a new report. But, the report notes, the system could also be a highly effective way to pirate music.

La La allows music lovers to find used CDs on the company’s Web site and then order them virtually for free from their owners, other La La members. The discs are then mailed from one party to the other. What may alarm some music-label executives is that many CDs lack copy protections, and there’s nothing to prevent songs from being converted to MP3 files and spread across the Web, according to a report issued by IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian.

The same is true in the case of brick-and-mortar used-CD stores, but “those stores lack the potential scope of La La”, Kevorkian said in her report. “This perceived threat will only grow as La La’s community does.”

After years of combating piracy, executives from music labels are likely to be wary of any service that promotes sharing, regardless of whether the music is on MP3 or pressed to a CD. People have swapped albums and CDs with friends for decades, but the difference now is that the Internet and PCs make it easy for a host of strangers to locate and trade with people who have similar musical tastes.

Full story: ZDNet UK