Fans of downloading music could be at risk of losing hundreds of pounds worth of downloaded music as a recent study found that the vast majority of home insurers don’t offer cover for digital downloads.
The research was conducted by leading consumer watchdog, Which? and found that over a third of the top home insurance providers in the UK offer no protection whatsoever for downloaded music on their standard policies.
According to Which? only four providers were found to allow customers to re-download lost music including HMV Digital, Play.com, 7 Digital and Tesco Entertainment, however the ever popular iTunes does not offer any facility for customers to re-load downloaded tracks which may have been accidentally wiped or lost.
The dearth of adequate insurance cover for digital material stands in stark contrast to the high downloads currently being reported, with Brits estimated to download 100 million tracks every year. With so many people opting to download their music online, it’s about time home insurance caught up with this in order to offer customers the cover they need.
If you are an avid downloader, it’s advisable to check your home insurance policy to clarify whether or not you have any cover in place. If not, you may want to consider switching your policy to an insurer who does offer cover, or invest in an external hard drive, in order to safeguard your digital downloads.
