Yesterday, news that RIAA lawsuits had cut down file trading broke big headlines. But, I wonder. I’ve been experimenting with most major legal music stores—iTunes, MusicMatch, Napster, and Rhapsody—and wonder how much impact they have had on file trading.
Consider that Napster lets subscribers paying about 10 bucks a month download songs from a library of about 500,000 tracks. Quality is the same as purchased tracks, which can be played on up to three PCs. The only difference: Usage rights. You don’t own them.
Then look at the many stores selling songs at a reasonable price—99 cents or less each. So before the RIAA gets all huffy about the impact of the lawsuits, maybe someone should consider that many people would pay for reasonable alternatives to file trading.
Photo Credit: Drew from Zhrodague