Neil Young slams 'degrading' MP3s

Neil Young is releasing his entire back catalogue on Blu-ray to prevent low-quality MP3s of his work getting online, The Guardian reports.

Speaking at JavaOne's keynote conference, the veteran rocker said: "Putting on a headphone and listening to an MP3 is like hell."

Young added that by putting his material out on a high fidelity Blu-ray disc, he would give music fans "quality whether they want it or not. You can degrade it as much as you want, we just don't want our name on it."

He also expressed frustration with bedroom bootleggers, saying: "The laws don't matter. These are people in their bedroom doing what they want. It's the new radio."

Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay have all recently adopted a successful online MP3 release policy.