Feelings on Napster?

I think that we all knew the court order (today) would happen, and it seems to me that Napster will eventually have to pay some kind of royalties, whether the music is coming "from them", or whether it comes from their "users". Either way, the so-called "free sharing of music" will not be allowed to go on by the RIAA, someone will have to pay something for what gets exchanged there, because it is all too easy for the music industry's primary "youth market" to get a bunch of music that they deem "as good as CD" for free, and how can that not affect profit margins? If they really like it as good (and usually they like it BETTER than CD), and they get it for free, WHY WOULD THEY PAY FULL RETAIL FOR A CD? THEY WOULDN'T, AND THEY DON'T. Interview a bunch of 14 or 15 year olds, and ask them how much of their music is bought on CD, and then ask how much did they get for free off the net. This is a no-brainer.........Yes, I've heard Napster's claims that more adults use them, than teenagers, but THERE'S NO WAY THIS HOLDS WATER EITHER....think about it. The bul (like 90%) of the music industry's income is youth driven, this cannot be denied or refuted.

This issue is not all that far beyond my youth, when eager young people would wait for their favorite song to be played by the "hottest" radio station, and they would record it to tape. I realize that with Napster this goes to a new art, being able to pick and choose the song and when you get to copy it. I am not sure the concept is any different though. Just for the record, I am neither for or against any of you availing yourself of the content of this new media. I, for one have never downloaded a single item from Napster. But then again, I never recorded a single song from the radio either, I simply went out and bought what I liked, after I heard it. Difficult to know what is right, for the consumer and the industry.

All interesting comments.I remember when Beatles White came out.Several fm stations played it in its intirety,as they did with new Eagles and the like.And there was Joe Benson's 7th day:7 albums uninterrupted.Those artists aren't out recycling cans or cardboard. I made copys on casette,and eventually bought everything I liked. MP3 is the 00's casette from the 70's

I'm of two minds as well, the artists are due their fair share, but there has always been ways to copy music and hasn't crippled the industry. The arguement can be made that there has never been "CD quality" copies available, but being an audiophile, MP3 and it's lossy compression techniques don't interest me much. Trying before you buy strikes me a fair. A recent case in point, the new Tragically Hip album was inadvertently released on the 'net and downloaded by many people before it was available through the traditional record stores (Music @ Work, good album). I listened to it for a few weeks, and then was one of the first to buy the production CD and attend their concert to enjoy their music. Here's where the whole music industry is at fault: the artist receives anywhere between $1 to $2.50 (max) for each CD sold, the rest is kept by the record company. I'd be happy to pay Steve Winwood $5 for a complete download of his next album, available through his secure site. He writes, performs, and produces his own work in his own studio, why should I pay $15 for the CD? The music industry argues they make significant investment in developing new bands that never make them money, but in my opinion they are pushing "cookie cutter" bands moulded to their own success formulas. As an example, I'd prefer to see Winwood double his income than pay record companies to keep their A&R guys well stocked in coke and Porsches. In order to take advantage of the music on the 'net requires a certain level of financial investment, either a DSL, Cable modem, or satellite link to download these huge files, and a CD burner to make the copies. In any event, targeting Napster does not address the fundamental issue of value-delivery of quality musci. The record companies have profited far too much for far too long...

Possibly it's the latent anarchist streak in me, but I tend to rejoice at the potential for entrenched, corporate models which rule and dominate creative industries being fundamentally challenged from time to time. Reminds me of the movie industry crying and pleading to the heavens and anyone else who would listen that VCR's (as opposed to VCP's-which just play tapes) would mean the certain death of the industry and that they absolutely, positively had to be banned if anyone ever wanted to watch a new movie again. They were serious, too. Models change. I have no doubt that the creative spirit and music will survive. The corporate model which feeds off of this creative spirit, however, is now confronted with a new paying field. It too, will survive, but it will look different. I am confident that Napster will be effectively crushed, at least in the short term. The laws (and those who enforce them) are created by vested interests to protect those interests, and new technologies are usually effectively stifled by an essentially conservative market and those who they threaten. (For example, cable was stifled by the broadcast industry for more than a decade with end-of-the-world style cries of hellfire and brimstone, just as cable is now stifling satellite broadcasting, deliciously, using precisely the same arguments which broadcast had turned against it. The same thing is going on with internet telephony, which scares the pants off of the telcom industry, and directly dovetails with the alleged digital conversion and the potential for multicasting v. the high definition programming which the industry promised Congress). I digress. That said, the genie is out of the bottle - no turning back. Sure, the industry will manage to suppress the development and full potential of all of these new technologies for a while by forcing them to play by outdated rules and cramming them into boxes designed in a different era. It has been ever thus. In the long run, however, we’re in for some changes. What? No idea. Creativity will survive. Music will survive. The rest (the playing filed, the rules, and even the players, not to mention whose pocket is getting lined) is just a curiosity to the likes of me. Hell, and if the upheaval only means a period of uncertainty, which can only then breed more creativity, I say bring it on. Us listeners / consumers, whatever our stripe, only benefit. I’ve never once used Napster, nor do I ever intend to, but I love it. (Sure, mea culpa, I've conveniently glossed the genuinely thorny issue of property rights in the digital domain--which is terrifyingly important on countless level and utterly without any apparent solution--I just don't want the folks at Sony music to have any hand in coming up with the new paradigm, or, for that matter, perpetuating the old one...).