PC World: "Pondering Digital Music's Future"

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115092,tk,dn030504X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115092,tk,dn030504X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store was under discussion at New York's Digital Music Forum this week, even though the company did not officially attend the event. RealNetworks Vice President of Music Services Sean Ryan offered the keynote at the show. He said, "2004 will be a great year for digital music", and said that successful services need to supply a "mix of offerings, multiple services (a la carte and subscription), control of the media player, and the ability to efficiently acquire customers and to get music off the computer." With the industry ready to reach critical mass, Ryan shared his belief that the industry is now closed to new start-ups. "The time is over for start-ups in this sector," he said."<br /><br />This articles goes on to talk about some of the issues affecting online music stores today, and their customers, namely the ugly thorn of file format incompatibilities. This part me me roll my eyes though, because it has the bitter ring of truth to it:<br /><br />"Jonathan Potter, who leads the Digital Music Association, warned that Apple may face unexpected resistance to its success...some music industry dinosaurs regard Apple's success as an indication that usage restrictions are too lax, and 'should be tightened.' "<br /><br />Doesn't that just sound like something a clueless music executive would say? Gosh, it couldn't POSSIBLY be that the reason iTunes is enjoying some success is that they hit upon a model that consumers actually want to spend money on, one that gives them a reasonable and affordable alternative to peer to peer networks? :roll:

[mcsouth]

Where exactly do these record industry people ACTUALLY LIVE? Do they all live and work in flashy buildings on the far side of the moon?

It amazes me to no end that some bright young person in that industry (okay, so maybe that is not a realistic scenario :lol: ) doesn't come to the realization that maybe file swapping and music download services signal massive discontent with the current state of the recording industry and their monopolistic sales practices.

I would like to think that most people, given a fair opportunity, will "do the right thing". Maybe I'm naive, but if I'm given a resonable choice, I would prefer to be a law-abiding citizen. I don't participate in file swapping. I don't scour the web looking for MP3 files of popular music to download so that I can avoid buying a CD. I don't ask to borrow my friend's CD's so that I can rip copies for myself.

....but I'm not buying CD's either. I have spent too much money over the years on CD's filled with two great songs, and a bunch of crap, that I have given up on buying music on a regular basis. I have purchased about 10 CD's over the last year or so - about 3 were bought in stores when they first came out, the rest was bought used from eBay, etc.

Would I buy more if the pricing and delivery model was right? I sure would, and the on-line music stores are going in the right direction for me. I just wish that the record industry mavens would recognize that they had a chance to develop this model that probably would have resulted in even more profits, due to the ease with which people could buy the music - 'hey, that's a neat song on the radio, I think I'll buy a copy of it when I get home' - in my mind, the current pricing scheme of on-line stores makes it that much easier to capture the impulse buying.

Now, if we could make it so that I could buy the song in my choice of format and encoding rate, so much the better. And who knows, maybe people would be willing to pay a bit more for a higher quality download. Think of it, you could have your 59 cent low quality download, your 79 cent medium quality download, and your 99 cent high quality download! Your choice, based on your needs or desires.

Let's face it, there will always be theft and piracy in our world. I think that the record industry moguls need to realize, however, that their very actions are what has pushed this situation to the point it is today. Any further delays on their decision to come out into the sunlight and restructure their distribution model just hurts them more - how many people are growing more used to the idea that music swapping is okay? If the record industry had taken a more proactive, consumer approach some time ago, I would like to believe that we would not have a generation of people growing up today that have no guilt about file swapping.......