JXM,
The recording industry's dilemma with Napster reminds me of one of my favorite stories.
Does anyone remember Mr. T, the actor from the A-Team series and some movies back in the 70's or 80's? He used to live in Lake Forest, a very nice, exclusive suburb about 40 miles north of Chicago. Home to lots of CEO's etc. And a beautiful place, along the lake with lots and lots of huge trees that have been there since long before the people arrived.
Well, Mr. T had allergies. Bad allergies. And he decided that the trees on his estate were to blame. So one day he hired a bunch of guys with chain saws and had the trees on his property, all of them, literally dozens and dozens of big beautiful trees, cut down.
The neighbors were aghast. These were the type of people who easily became aghast, but when I drove past his house one day I had to admit that the neighbors had a point. Here was this street full of large properties with mature, towering trees, and then one property with a bunch of tree stumps. It really looked silly, and I am sure that the neighboring properties went down quite a bit in value.
The point of the story in this context is that Mr. T, after cutting down all of those trees, still had allergies, and they were just as bad as ever. His trees were gone, but the neighbors' trees proved an ample source of pollen and other allergens. He continued sneezing for a few more years, then eventually went bankrupt and had to move.
Presumably to a place without trees.
The world is full of sites, or soon will be, that can accomplish essentially what Napster accomplishes. Having the record industry buy them all is like trying to kill all the mosquitoes in the world. Or getting rid of all the pollen. Can't be done. |
