In September, 1.4 billion songs were downloaded on the internet using Napster. Yet the recording companies still haven’t figured out that the genie is out of the bottle for good. To try to cut down advance downloads, some of the major labels have been restricting music critics’ access to advance copies (but the music slips … Continue reading “DIGITAL MUSIC COPYING HERE TO STAY”
Publishers anxiously at an e-book conference watch Napster case for clues to how publishers can protect themselves. “Keynote speaker Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft, predicted that although 50 percent of all new books will be electronic in form within 10 years, widespread piracy could cripple the market.” – Wired
While Napster is driving the music industry crazy, bootleggers have been making complete texts of books available for downloading. Is this a threat to publishing? – Wired
As the recording industry continues to mount legal challenges to Napster’s file-sharing technology, the publishing industry is assessing its own content – both its vulnerability, and its marketability. “It appears audio book publishers are poised to deliver the first insights. The MP3 format provides for a real variety of content – abridged, unabridged, something that’s … Continue reading “THE UPSIDE OF PIRACY”
How worried does the audio-book business (a $2 billion-a-year industry) need to be about the recent proliferation of downloadable audio books on Napster-like sites? “The question really is whether there is a demand for audio books in the MP3 format. If there is, publishing would be well advised to figure out a legal – and … Continue reading “A NOVEL IDEA”
“But a general malaise appears to have gripped consumers; in part due to what many consider unfairly priced CDs. Consumers have flocked to file trading networks such as Napster, Scour, and the nearly 100 other applications that allow users to trade and sample music for free. Even as a federal court prepared to shut down … Continue reading “CONSUMERS WEB”
“But a general malaise appears to have gripped consumers; in part due to what many consider unfairly priced CDs. Consumers have flocked to file trading networks such as Napster, Scour, and the nearly 100 other applications that allow users to trade and sample music for free. Even as a federal court prepared to shut down … Continue reading “CONSUMERS WEB”
A reporter decides to go legal and try to purchase downloadable music through the internet. “Even if Napster and Scour were shut down tomorrow, nobody in their right mind would spend this much time and frustration trying to buy digital music online. Lawsuits and copyright issues aside, the music industry isn’t anywhere near creating a … Continue reading “BUT I WANT TO PAY”
While the Napster controversy has enjoyed an avalanche of media attention, how much of it can be considered “good journalism”? “Too often the complicated dispute between the online start-up and the music industry has been painted in the most simplistic terms – a reductive tale of forward-thinking entrepreneurs outsmarting head-in-the-sand label executives. From the get-go, … Continue reading “WHAT’S THE REAL STORY?”
“We were both heavy users of cassettes, the Napster of their day, and it turned us, not into habitual music thieves, but into devoted collectors of hundreds of LPs and then CDs. He [my brother] would have gladly paid a reasonable fee – $1, say – to download a song like ‘Summer Breeze,’ but he … Continue reading “MY BROTHER THE PIRATE”
