The end of physical media is neigh

Folks, there are a couple of elephants in this room

1. I don't know about you, but if I ever listen to 30-40% of all the audio media I have that's the end of it. Regular rotation, 10% or less. So, 60-70% is dead wood. But, I don't get rid of it because on a regular basis I rediscover a dusty corner of my music, like, Alice Cooper really was a misunderstood genius? In that event, having LPs or CDs around isolates one from the vagaries of streaming services. 

2. A conversation we should be having as a society is the nature of ownership in a changing world. For decades, it was blissfully simple: you purchased a LP or a CD, you owned it, you could play the music on it at will, sell it, give it, whatever. In reality, when we paid $14.95 for a CD that cost less than $1 to manufacture, the value was always in the music, not in the physical support. With streaming, we pay for music untethered from any physical support. That's fine, but we no longer have full control over the music we paid for. Conceivably, a copyright owner could win a lawsuit and have music you own ordered removed from your library by a court.

3. Torrent

My point was about the nature of ownership in a digitally controlled world. Say your $80,000 Tesla had an overnight update. When you wake up in the morning, your car is not quite the same car you parked the night before. Yes, updates are usually improvements, so no worries, owners are happy.

Yet you can imagine a Tesla determining that its driver is excessively spirited, so it engages valet mode and automatically throttles speed to the posted limit? For a week? A month? It certainly has all the tech onboard to do just that.

What if, say, you ran a traffic light and your car reported you to the authorities (in addition to limiting your speed to 25 mph and restricting your sound system to NPR)?

What if authorities required Tesla to report you?

After all, it would improve public safety.

After after all, it is your car, as evidenced by the fact that you paid $80,000 for it.

That’s a ways from digital music files to be sure, but the question of the meaning of ownership runs through both.

I understand no one can reach into the NAS in your home office and delete files, at least not practically. On the other hand, local storage is being supplanted by cloud storage, where your music files are totally within reach. Glad I said "conceivably" though :)

Having said that, It is a wonderful new world, no doubt! I totally agree there

"it is impossible to ask for U2?"   AI is doing you a BIG favor!!!

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