North Yorkshire police and trading standards officers are to be congratulated for the operation in which 1,000 counterfeit compact discs were seized.

No doubt the music industry, fighting a continual battle against bootleg recordings, will be delighted by the news.

And yet the music industry shares some of the blame for the proliferation of the black market.

They have consistently over-priced chart CDs. Survey after survey has shown that the British record-buying public is being ripped-off. Albums are considerably cheaper in Europe and America.

There is only one reason why we pay more: the greed of the record companies.

If they brought prices down the demand for cheap, counterfeit CDs would diminish.

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