Ideas - Digital Music Formats

Digital Music Formats - The MP3 Questions

Ways to Get Songs	Good Things About It	Bad Things About It
Buy New CD	Easy to buy at local store. Easy to buy on web. Get cool liner inserts and pictures.	$15.00 a CD! Have to buy whole disk for one song. May have to buy nine lousy songs. Supports long-term contracts of garbage.
Buy Used CD	Easy to buy at local store. Costs much less than new CD. Get cool liner inserts and pictures.	Selection usually limited. Have to buy whole disk for one song. Scratches, folded, spindled, and multilated liners.
Tape off the air	Can limit collection to specific songs. Easy to customize collection. Diversity easy to obtain. Greater selection (live studio takes).	Time consuming to tape. Second generation recording. Beginning and ends may have overlaid sounds. Difficult to access single songs.
Buy New Cassette	Easy to buy at local store. Easy to buy on web. Easy to use in most cars.	Difficult to access single tracks Have to buy whole tape for one song. Tape hiss. Non-durable recording medium.
Tape whole CD/Album/Cassette	Very low cost. Get lots of extra tracks you might like. Diversity is easy to come by. Easy to play in car. Greater selection. Access to out of print items.	Difficult to access single tracks Takes up whole tape for one song. Tape hiss. Non-durable recording medium.
Tape single song from CD/Album/Cassette	Very low cost. Custom tapes can be made. Diversity is easy to come by. Easy to play in car. Greater selection. Access to out of print items.	Difficult to access single tracks Time consuming to produce. Tape hiss. Non-durable recording medium.
Buy custom CD from company	Legal purchase of variety. Get only tracks you like. Diversity is easy to come by. Easy to access single tracks. Durable recording medium.	Still expensive. Have to wait for delivery. Not as cool liner notes/graphics.
Burn CD	Very low cost. Get lots of extra tracks you might like. Diversity is easy to come by. Easy to produce. (Start copy process)	Not considered legal. Takes up whole disc for one song. Requires CD burner.
Napster/MP3	Very low cost. Very easy to customize. Diversity is easy to come by. Backups are easy to make.	Limited playback options. Variations in recording quality. Guilt over uncertain legality. Massive legal debate takes up time. Requires high bandwidth internet connection to easily use.

Major Issues to Discuss

Who owns rights to song?

Who owns the copyright?
Who should get money when it is sold?
How does going out of print change the rules?
When I buy a song where can I play it?
When I buy a song what format changes can I make to improve my ability to listen to it where I desire?

Where is the money?

Who gets money when it is bought in original format?
Of the money for a sale where does it all go?
How much does the artist really see?
What revenue is generated by artists from all aspects of performance? (Studio, live, sales, tours, licensing, etc...)
How much money do people think is lost to piracy?
What percentage of piracy represents market penetration, but not lost sales? (Who copied it that would have never bought it in the first place?)
What portion of piracy leads to additional revenue? (Concert sales, merchandise, music sales, etc...)
What is the break even point on piracy prevention? (How many people will you never be able to catch? How much money can you spend effectively before you start losing money on marginal efforts? (marginal defined via economics).)

What fading entrenched systems exist?

Are there any systems that the digital marketplace will render inefficient?
Will anybody be trying madly to protect a revenue stream that perhaps should not exist in this economy? (See Wine industry's distribution system attempt to prevent Internet sales and Interstate shipping of wine to preserve their cut as middlemen.) .