. . . says the guy who gets his CD's for free. I think the music industry's problem is that it tried for too long (and until it was too late) to simply ignore downloads. If it had moved sooner to create a viable way for legally buying downloads than its transition to online distribution would have been much less painful. It sucks that a magazine like no depression is going to go away because record labels don't advertise in print anymore but that just means ND needs to find a new forum. Pitchfork does fine online and here's hoping that ND can make the transition. I suggest that you not get hung up, however, with thinking that the the download killed music. It changed it, no doubt, but for the better, I would argue. I spent $200 at emusic last year buying non-major label music in quantities that Tower records never could have provided. I'd hazard a guess that the artists whose songs I purchased saw as much per song then they would have in the old CD distribution systemt. For me, I heard some great stuff and didn't pirate a single song to anyone. Plus, when reading your magazine late at night, if I came across something that sounded interesting, I could simply download it. Much better than having to hunt it down at a store. Emusic (which advertises in ND) and its non-DRM files are not the problem. A music industry that waited too long to give consumers what they wanted, is. Refusing to link to online references to downloading suggest to me that you're still burying your head in the sand. Kinda funny for a magazine that started online!

DRM is a way to protect digital files from copyright theft. It protects the copyright owners from losing sales of their e-books, DVD’s and other items.

Ah, spoken like a true crotchety old man.

I came here to offer some suggestions for keeping ND alive online, but after reading several things that include "technophobe" and the above missive, I predict anything you tried would fail miserably for the simple reason that you don't get it.

Dropping DRM frees the user to do what they want with the file THEY JUST PAID FOR AND OWN, it doesn't make it free. Yes some people will share it, just like people made mix CDs.

Considering that kids pretty much drive innovation across the board in technology, music, fashion and oh, pretty much everything culturally relevant since the 40s, if not before, your argument of "doesn't make it right" automatically excludes you from the conversation. Or at least it puts you in the conservative camp - those who want things the same and fear change. As such, you many want to think about the McCain ticket in November.

To counter your fear about publishing, comics are readily available online the same day as they show up in stores (illegally, as the publishers fail to recognize the future of the medium) and yet the industry had is best year since about 1995. And just so you know, people do and are scanning bound volumes of regular books too - right under your nose!

If you should change your mind, I strongly recommend reading some Seth Godin (books and blog - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ and I recommend his 3/2 entry on the music biz - directed to the majors, but relevant across the board) as well as a book called "The Pirate's Dilemma" (http://thepiratesdilemma.com/) if you ever want to make it in this new world. Heck you could go read boingboing archives (http://www.boingboing.net/) and have a better idea of the digital world and those who are shaping it.

But if you're content sitting on your porch, shotgun in hand and yelling at the kids to get off the lawn, I'll leave you to it.

Well, now!
I am fascinated to see for a second time the link made between my failure to believe in the inherent benefits of new technology and my political affiliations. Silly, but fascinating. We are talking about the ecology in which business is done, and I can think of nothing more radical than suggesting that cheap is not the highest good.
Should I apologize for preferring the actual object to its electronic doppleganger? I like records and CDs. I like the original works of art, which hang on my walls. I like books and magazines and the tactile pleasures they bring, the context they arrive with. And I like the fact that they're more or less permanent, properly stored, and the same simply cannot be said for computer files.
Clearly the paradigm is that music is going to be free, one way or another. I don't think that benefits artists, I know it benefits those who make the disposable objects on which music is stored. Same thing for eBooks, whatever form they're to take.
It seems quite a jump to argue that the publishing model for comics (not sure which kind are meant; funnies or graphic novels?) is analagous to book and magazine publishing.
And then...everything important was done by people under 40. If true, what's the point of trying, if you're an old cluck like me? But it's so transparently not true, so tragically arrogant a thing to argue.
The problem with ALL of this is that none of it explains to me where the money comes from to pay for the work. It's fine and dandy to empower consumers to mash up music and make their own video and all that, though I really do prefer to leave such matters to talented professionals. (Enough of my listening time has been devoted to amateurs and semi-pros these last years.) People have had wonderful suggestions for a future ND site, but NONE of them explain how these things get PAID for.
Free is great. But, in the end, you still get what you pay for.
Anyway, it's not the kids on the lawn I'm worried about. It's the deer. They're a bloody menace!
-- grant

Once upon a time there was a band that decided, since the fans were already sneaking tape recorders into shows, that they'd go with the flow rather than fight it. The conventional wisdom of The Industry said they were absolutely crazy and that it would destroy their economic base. But they went ahead with their wacky notion and even went so far as to set aside an area for the tapers in the "sweet spot" near the soundboard. Furthermore, they knew that these tapes would circulate, sometimes for cash, among fans who might otherwise be expected to buy "product" from their label. In doing so the Grateful Dead built one of the most loyal and supportive fan bases ever.

Years later a scruffy band from Vermont emulated the Dead and added the internet to the mix, not only allowing the recording of shows but encouraging, at least to a certain extent, download sound file sharing. Once again, Phish leveraged such a counter-intuitive strategy into a legion of followers who, years after the band decided it was time to move on to other projects, continue to support them and their various projects.

Neither band seems to have gone bankrupt due to their willingness to embrace, rather than fight, the impulse among fans to tape and share music. Of course, both bands also built a reputation for great live shows that were unique events from night to night. They both promoted the notion that there was nothing better than attending a live show ... and the fans responded by attending as many shows as they could. Unlike plenty of groups whose shows on a particular tour vary little from night to night, venue to venue, as they tour to support their most recently released "product".

Once upon a time the economic model for making money from music was based on selling sheet music ... not much cash flow there these days. If records and CDs no longer are going to be the major means for making money from music, so be it. Lamenting the loss of the past ... and fighting against the future ... won't help. Rather it is important that NEW means of supporting the creators of music be found. It is highly unlikely that those new ideas and approaches will come from major Industry players whose focus is too much on the bottom line and not enough on the music and fans.

Nice to know that random house is ceasing DRM on audio books. DRM consists of various restrictions applied in music or video files, so their use can be controlled by a third party, usually the company holding the copyright for a song or movie.