Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency has proposed adding a fee to the price of Apple iPods and other digital music players to compensate rights holders for revenues lost to digital music piracy and peer-2-peer file swapping.

Japan's Cultural Affairs Agency has proposed adding a fee to the price of Apple iPods and other digital music players to compensate rights holders for revenues lost to digital music piracy and peer-2-peer file swapping.

The proposal represents an extension of an existing programme that adds the fee to the price of blank recordable media and products such as MiniDisc recorders. The proposal could potentially form part of  a planned Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology proposal to amend Japan's copyright law which will come into effect in 2010.