I agree with your analysis there. What's more, being 50 I remember paying either 3.58 or 4.18 for albums at a local discount store. At one album per week from about '68 to '72, I spent more per month then, than Napster charges now to rent per month($10). With Napster I can't loan the album to a friend and get it back a month later covered with cat scratches(not wholly a bad thing, you see), but I can jack my computer into my main stereo and listen at home just as I did then. Back then, to listen in the car one might have bought a 2nd taped copy or bought a machine to make a taped copy. Now, I can make cassettes from Napster willy nilly so long as I'm renting and plugged into my main stereo. Renting from Napster, I could also bypass security by plugging into an "old" computer and ripping new MP-3's(surely better than cassettes I made back when - and in a similar time spent - and then I could IPOD AND share copies on disc with anyone. All in all, after inflation 10 bucks per month to rent a huge library of music available at any time, even without downloading copies(as is often the case with Napster), might be a very attractive monthly charge for lots of kids/folks. Yes, I still have a car with a cassette player in it, but much better to rip to that old computer and play discs in the next car.
Dan B. |
