PIRACY: WE MUST ALL BE VIGILANT.

It's a few years since music pirates were to be found selling dodgy tapes on every market stall and street corner around the country. Unfortunately the problem certainly hasn't gone away -- a fact that was highlighted by the latest report from the IFPI suggesting more than 200m blank CDR were sold in the UK last year, many of them finding their way into the hands of pirates.

Instead of standing on corners they can now be found at car boot sales, local factories, universities, schools, offices and virtually anywhere where more than two people gather to pass the time of day. They have achieved this penetration by using both email and mobile phones to spread their net ever wider. The problem was brought home to us when one of our customers showed us a list he had been given at a car boot sale. Recent releases on the list included albums from REM, Westlife at Wembley (not yet out in the UR), Travis, Blink 182 and the latest Roxy Music and Smiths best-of collections. All these albums, complete with covers and track listings, ...