A government panel Thursday decided against expanding the range of products subject to royalty payments on digital music recording devices to include iPods and other new gadgets that use flash memory and hard disks.

Royalty payments introduced in 1993 currently apply to disk-based devices, namely MD, CD and digital audiotape players. Surcharges of around 400 yen per MD recorder and of 4 yen per minidisk, for instance, are paid chiefly to performers and other copyright owners.

The decision was included in a report adopted by a copyright subcommittee of the Council for Cultural Affairs, which advises the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, government officials said.

Reproducing music for private use is legal under the Copyright Law.

The panel decided that it was unwise to include iPods and other devices in the levy coverage, citing problems with the existing system. The current system "should be comprehensively reviewed, including its abolition and the introduction of other measures," the panel said.

The panel began debating the issue in February amid complaints by the recording industry and other copyright owners that devices such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod have far larger capacities than MDs and that their sales are rapidly increasing.

Device manufacturers meanwhile called for an overhaul of the royalty levy, overseen by the Society for Administration of Remuneration for Audio Home Recording, citing technological changes since their introduction.

In its report, the panel noted that under the current system, the surcharges are also imposed on people who buy devices but do not themselves record music privately.

It also mentioned the difficulty in determining the sums for levy distribution among copyright owners. The levy aggregate stood at some 2.3 billion yen for music players in fiscal 2003.

The panel said insufficient effort has been made to raise awareness of the system among the public.