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...
Feelings on Napster?
Hi, Since this is in part a forum about music, I'll put this statement and question on the table. In the past few months, I've begun to use Napster online. I'll look through the forum for reccomendations on good albums and tracks, then I'll download it on Napster, take a listen and, if I like it, purchase the album. My opinion is that Napster is really opening up accessibility to music for alot of people, allowing them to try new things that before they wouldn't have access to or simply wouldn't be prepared to invest in. It's helped expand my own horizons I know and I think it's good for music overall. Any opinions?