A new law in the Netherlands could dramatically increase the price of owning an iPod or any digital music player. The so-called "iPod tax" would be added to the cost of purchasing any digital music player and could be approved within the next three months. The taxes collected would go to the music industry to help make up for losses from digital piracy, under the assumption that some music played on portable MP3 players was illegally acquired. The Dutch law could be charged according to the size of a player's hard drive.

Interest in the law is also gaining steam in the U.K. as well. Doug D’Arcy, formerly of Chrysalis and BMG, told The Sunday Herald, "The illegal digital download market is in danger of crippling the British music industry and unless something is done to address this quickly, it will spell disaster for thousands of artists and independent record labels." He continued, "We had an opportunity to introduce a levy on audio cassettes back in the 1970's and passed it up. That decision cost the business tens of millions, and to make the same mistake again could be fatal.”

A similar tax law was proposed and shot down in Canada late last year.