Tw, regarding the convenience of buying music selections online, I haven't been to a record store in months, but I regularly buy CD's from Amazon.com. Instead of buying the whole CD, which may contain many selections in which I have little or no interest, I would much prefer to download specific selections, even if the cost per selection would be higher than the unit cost for the entire collection. Amazon in this case is just another middleman, and the music publishers/recording companies now have a chance to market directly to the consumer.
Here's what I see: You will be able to browse selections, hearing portions of the piece for free. You will be able to download an entire selection for a nominal fee, done from the convenience of your desk top or your cell phone equipped with sufficient memory for downloading. It's just a cheaper, better way of selling music recordings, and as long as there is a convenient way to charge the customer's account, the whole system is likely to promote MORE demand rather than less demand.
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