Back when the RIAA and Metallica sued Napster, my hope was that the case would be settled out of court. After all, even back then there were dozens of avenues by which one might download music. Napster was just a really well known brand. A great settlement could have presented a model other companies could endorse to provide music to masses while generating the revenues to make the labels happy.

Instead, all Napster gave was money and promises to change their business model. NullSoft released Gnutella to remove the central server from the game. Now things are pretty much were they were 3 years ago… the Wild, Wild West. Only the game is escallating. The RIAA develops something to beat the downloaders. The downloaders go around it.

Let’s face it, the labels are trying to win a game that cannot be won. The only way to completely secure a CD to the point that there will be no way to copy the songs from it is to not create the CD. Period. No matter how long they spend dreaming up the security to protect it, one has from the point of its release until the end of time to crack it. Plus, there are thousands with the technical knowledge to crack it. All they can do is make it difficult.

By making it difficult, they inspire those who probably would not have cared otherwise to rise against the challenge. So, they are making it more likely the protection will be cracked.

Now we have U.S. Senators endorsing the destruction of computers.

Peer-to-Peer network designers are looking to make them safer for sharers.

There are of course legitimate methods by which one might download music like the iTunes Store. Some artists refuse to sell their music online so some titles are missing from these online stores.

I think the RIAA would only be happy should they make as much money as possible off this music. Consumers will only be happy when they can listen to music conveniently and cheaply.

I think I cannot justify the $500 a year (up from $100 in 2000) I spend on music going to preventing me from being able to listen to music easily in the future.