Insofar as personal copies are concerned, we say that a copy is a copy, no matter what support is used to make it. Ideally, we would extend the personal copy provisions to iPods, that are used to make more than 70% of copies. Failing that, at least let us not introduce that exception that will put a complete end to personal copies in the very near term. Year after year, this generally amounts to about 30 million a year.
In an industry where all micropayments are important, we can say that personal copies are excessively important for all of the rights holders. They are a source of income that can help artists to persevere and continue to create rather than choosing to do something else.