Thankfully, the latter portion of the article was eloquent, and expressed things very nicely.

That doesn’t necessarily correlate with streaming. As others have mentioned, an internet connection is required, and we don’t always have that access, whether that’s bad ISP service or just mobile with no wifi/3G.

Isn’t my computer and my brain committing copyright infringement?

Personally I like buying CDs of bands I like, something to have and hold even if it takes up more space than say a HD full of MP3s. At the same time I like the connivence of MP3s, and take my iPod with me practically where ever I go; allowing me to listen to anything from my collection on the fly.

I think those of us that like physical media are a dying breed, and the majority of kids and teens today would prefer to get the MP3s to the CDs. Big media corporations are resisting this new development either out of ignorance or the malicious desire to make more money, possibly even both.

In the Good Old Days, of course, there were tape recorders to recorded stuff off the radio, usually live performances by famous people, which just weren’t going to be available for purchase. E.g. we had one tape from the 1950s with Vladimir Horowitz playing his own arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition, and on the other side, Great-Uncle Mischa (Mischakoff) playing a Bruch violin concerto. Well, that tape is useless now, the last time I listened to it, probably 20+ years ago, print-through had made it almost unlistenable.

Boom-box type radios were designed to copy stuff off the air. They generally had a switch so you could record whatever was on the radio, on a tape directly.

Not to mention taping records borrowed from the public library, etc.

The “good old days” were filled with opportunities to make personal copies of music. And as far as we knew it was fine, because it was either for personal use, or in the case of live recordings, they weren’t going to make a dime off of selling it, so it was no skin off anyone’s nose to tape a concert off the air.

Caitifty@24: tnx for the suggestion. There are plenty of religious spoken-word recordings given away as .rm, but since Real.com, the morons, never licensed portable players, you can’t take it with you. The sites slowly convert them to mp3, but it costs money to do that, and they’re perpetually underfunded.

I found this to be by far the most compelling part of Cory’s argument.

I’m not sure the urge to own something is so great if I can already listen to it whenever I want.

mplayer “[stream url]” -ao pcm:file=/tmp/mystream.wav -vc dummy -vo null ;

then convert the .wav to something more compact using oggenc or lame or whatever..

also the internet is hardly as fast, ubiquitus and cheap as many internet evangelists make it to be. streaming over UMTS or GPRS is an expensive pain in the butt and can’t even remotely beat a local archive. land lines are better but they limit you in your home.

maybe in the future if internet access becomes free or almost but even in that case i would not trust my data entirely to a 3rd party. having access and control 24/7 and without internet access will always be important

Secondly, this is a perspective from a person aware of and educated about these issues. Most people won’t be thinking of clogging the intartubes when they stream. They’ll happily accept a terrible quality (my last trip back to the UK was plagued by bus rides upon which I was ‘treated’ to music by people using cell phone speakers to annoy all around them) music if it is convenient. Many people aren’t worried about the fidelity, they are interested in convenience.

He has stopped pirating any thing since then because every thing he wants is available to him for a small monthly fee. If it worked on an iPod, I’d probably cancel my emusic subscription and sign up for a Zune Pass. It is pretty bad ass and it is the kind of service that could seriously put a dent in music piracy.

The only issue is the incapability of the record companies to change their business models in the face of a tidal wave. Terra Firma, the London based private equity firm (staffed, it must be said, with incredibly business savvy people), got shagged on their investment in EMI, because the coke-sniffing execs are incapable of changing and releasing the pent-up dreams of the 70s and 80s.

You’re right – people want convenience. But I want fidelity – and clearly, I’m going to have to pay for that. But will that payment be more or less than now??

Streaming is a pain in the butt … and it makes the whole game what is legal and what not gets more confusing … e.g. I love to watch the daily show every morning … i can wait until it is officially online for streaming on comedy central and watch it with the same commercial over and over .. i don;t totally mind commercials, they can be kinda entertaining … but streaming is still a big stutter … i rather just hit a button and wait until ‘it is done’ and i know it will then run smoothly … and that i only get from p2p ..

I am not against to pay an annual subscription for a show like the daily show … but not for the pricing apple is asking for right now …

The system as it is right now is just too inconsistent … I am willing to pay a little something (for a show that people can watch free if they are in the US) … but right now .. p2p beats the official comedy central offering …

I just got an Android phone. The Pandora app is now all I need for music if I am bored of my collection. You know who should be really scared? Sirius/XM.

As an anecdote for someone to make data out of: This week I purchased (as DRM free downloads) $129 worth of music that I found via Last.fm. No one would have gotten any of that money if both streaming and downloading hadn’t been available for me.

(And I probably would have spend another $50 if every track I was interested in was available to download.)

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