> Maybe I don't understand something about your point, but why skip over CDs and direct sales of single tracks, as popularized by iTunes?
The way I see it, there are three choices:
1. Sell a physical good and let the free market do its thing,
2. Sell a service and let the free market do its thing,
3. Attempt to create a non-free market using various combinations of technical and legal means (e.g. DRM, copyright etc.)
Vinyl records were an example of (1). They couldn't practically be duplicated. But CDs could and the free market very quickly realised this. So CDs were the beginning of their journey down route (3) which they eventually lost. They have now settled on method (2) just like movies, games and everything else.
The way I see it, there are three choices:
1. Sell a physical good and let the free market do its thing,
2. Sell a service and let the free market do its thing,
3. Attempt to create a non-free market using various combinations of technical and legal means (e.g. DRM, copyright etc.)
Vinyl records were an example of (1). They couldn't practically be duplicated. But CDs could and the free market very quickly realised this. So CDs were the beginning of their journey down route (3) which they eventually lost. They have now settled on method (2) just like movies, games and everything else.