When I mentioned in last week’s column that I would this week be writing about a legal way to do a successful music downloading business — a business that would threaten the Recording Industry Association of America and its hegemony — dozens of readers wrote to me trying to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the fact that the real issues here aren’t technical but legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I’m probably more of a diabolical loon.
He is all of that: I don’t think this will work as a business, though it seems towork well enough for libraries. I’m not sure enough people would understand it well enough to make the commitment. It’s essentially a private library. But read it yourself and weigh in.