My sentiments exactly.
Before Napster, I bought less than 5 music CD's per year. While I was downloading music "for free" with Napster I bought several hundred dollars of music CD's per month. Did the recording industry lose out by me downloading "free" music? Obviously, Hell no.
Now, they threaten lawsuits against users of public p2p file trading. So now I'm not downloading music on public p2p systems anymore. I'm also back to buying very few CDs a year. Last year I only purchased one CD. This year (so far) it's zero. Did the music industry benefit from the legalized extortion of their own customers? Another "hell no" goes here.
Mike Evangelist is certainly not alone in his feelings about the assault on fair use of content. Consumers still have the ultimate say in this matter. The more consumers the industry alienates, the less likely its survival becomes.
Consumers are already turning away from movie theaters partly because it's too darn expensive for admission plus the overpriced snacks. As a result, DVD sales have surpassed revenue from theater attendance. So, the movie industry can start kissing goodbye to huge profits "the first weekend at the box office".
I wouldn't be too surprised if the "next level" of DRM requires special hardware be attached to your computer - namely a "pay-per-play" credit card reader.
Gotta love it:
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They can all take their DRM, and their broadcast flags, and their rootkits, and their Compact Discs that aren’t really compact discs and shove them up their bottom-lines.
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