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Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Friedrich Hayek, Get Your iPod For as long as the word "Napster" has been a part of the American lexicon, computer geeks, legal analysts and all bloggers great and small have debated the issue of internet file sharing. Now, as God seems to be away on business, the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the issue in the case of the big, growling movie maker v. the brash, impertinent software company (better known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, 04-48). The battle lines have been drawn, sides are being chosen, and I am joining the side of Grokster. I'd like to say the reason isn't that I'm greedy and like to get music for free, but that fact of the matter is, that is the reason, and that's the whole point. The record companies and the film studios are worried, and rightfully so. People aren't buying as many $20 CDs for the one or two songs they want when they can get them from a "friend" online. Why spend $30 for a "special edition" DVD with a bunch of crappy extras when you can download it on your computer and burn your own DVD for the mere cost of a blank disc you can get at Best Buy. The genie is out of the bottle. Technology has come a long way from the days of the Victrola. When I was a boy, playing records and cassette tapes, I never could have imagined that someday I would have every piece of music I own (with about 6 Gigabytes to spare) in a metal box smaller than the span of my hand. The reason I have this magic box (called an iPod for those of you having trouble keeping up) is that some clever people invented it, rightly thinking that it would be something people would want. Put in a more Hayekian (F.A., not Selma) way, there was a demand, so American business created a supply. This is the cornerstone of capitalism, the system that got MGM, Capitol Records, et al where they are today. Why now do they forget what got them there? People aren't going to pay two sawbucks for a CD with 9 lousy songs and two good ones when they can just download the good ones for cheap, thus weeding out the deadwood. The answer for these entertainment behemoths is not to try and stop progress, but to figure out a way to make it profitable. A good example: Steve Jobs and Apple Computers. They swung a deal with various musical artists and record labels in order to sell individual songs for $1 while at the same time selling their iPods so people had a convenient place to put their $1 songs. Simple. Easy. Next thing you know, shares of Apple go from approximately $23 to $82 and the stock was split in half. But as is the nature of the capitalist beast, there's competition for Apple on the horizon with Sony and the new and improved Napster making inroads in a similar fashion. More competition means better and cheaper products. But hey, I'm no Milton Friedman. To MGM and the other corporate entities that find this a little too convoluted, let me break it down: don't get mad, get better. Jim Rose blogs at Jim-Rose.com. Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by BNN Archive at 5:00 PM |
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