A quick comparison on the file sharing thing again.

May 11 06:23 UTC 2003

John Stason (sp?) on 20/20 decided to do a "Give Me a Break" segment 
on file sharing.

Besides highlighting the fact that the RIAA is suing college students 
for posting file sharing sites, he tried to compare file sharing to 
earlier technology.

There was radio, and supposedly stations were loath to have listeners 
hear music for free.

Then there was the advent of the VCR, and they tried to curb that, 
too, saying copying stuff off TV would be a breach of copyright or 
something like that.

I think probably the blank compact cassette tape was a real threat-- 
people could now copy commercial music much more easily.

But here's the real rub.  With radio and television, you have to worry 
about commericals, especially with television.  So I don't think that 
was the worry (and I think the segment said the lawsuit was against 
Blockbuster, which was dropped anyway, implying that folks were 
copying VHS tapes).

File to file is just another ballgame-- the music is direct and fast 
with the technology.  Search time is quick and fast.  Copy time can be 
quick and fast, depending on connection.  This is restating the 
obvious, of course, but it's just much different than anything before 
it.

It is said with iTunes that the selection is more limited than with 
regular file sharing.  Granted, the audio quality is better, but I am 
willing to venture that the average user is not going to care that 
much.  Files around 128kbps in quality and just a little above will 
probably do for a lot of people.