| My take on MP3's Unknown Date Chris Maus [ESSAY INDEX] |
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| My Web Archive |
As
a very independent singer/songwriter and a fairly knowlegible
computer user, the digital music debate seems to miss an aspect
of the medium's major flaw in the discussions. A computer file
by it's very nature is a temporary thing. Companies and individuals,
if they have the money, who archive their computer files, and
actually use their archives, are few. I have a theory that
the life of an MP3 file on a person's computer is less than 6
months. The reason digital music files will never be a viable
"product" for sale is they are disposable. A compact disc can be
resold (usually at a substantial loss) but a digital song is
easily deleted. Because the value of listenning to your digital
music library decreases over time, people are smart enough to
avoid paying for something they know they are going to throw away.
Digital music files become an economic burden when your hard disk
is full.
I believe the digital music debate is more akin to broadcast radio than it is to CD sales. I would be fined and shut down if I built a small radio transmitter and played my music over the FM airwaves... |
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