Really, #4 was the world-changer. Although you'd still hear some whining (after all, these are the people that whine about used record stores), I doubt you would have near the level of controversy if the technology had stopped at the CD burner. Although you do have the digital-quality aspect, the the level of personal music sharing would still be just that-- personal sharing. With the P2P apps and cheap bandwidth, though, music piracy became just as... even more... accessible than legitimate purchase.

That right there is an angle I'd like to see tried.

I urge you all when making a purchase in future... goods of any value to read the terms and conditions for fun and anything you disagree with, make them change it if you feel it is unfair or write out your own "Terms and Conditions of sale", get them to sign it or you will not buy it. Works for me!

(Asking sincerely...) How's that working for you?

As for the rest, I don't mind content rental, content with terms, even DRM-enforced, nor do I think it should be abolished, as long as it's clearly advertised as such. You shouldn't have to delve into FAQs or TOSs to find out how what you're getting deviates from a common sale.

Worse, in my opinion, than the device-specific content like Kindle, are arbitrary DRM and activation restrictions on things run on a general-purpose computer. With something like a Kindle, or, say, a downloadable console game, you at least have the knowledge that all purchases are going to be restricted by the common rules of the device. OTOH, computer-game copy protection can involve any number or hoops an hurdles, and you're not likely to see a "Now with intrusive SecuROM!" burst on the packaging.

Regarding the "pay the artists directly" idea--

However, the artists aren't the only people who worked on and ought to be compensated for the record. Directly or by proxy, the artists in question chose to work with the middlemen and distribution chains that they did. If the artists wished to sell their recordings directly, they would have, and they'd be seeing every piece of the (likely smaller) pie. They, however, decided to cede some control and a cut of the price for the services and abilities of the labels and production companies they went with.

If we're going to preserve the moral balance by paying the artists, shouldn't the artists then be paying their promoters and producers out of that? In that case, the same amounts of money would still be handed out, just trickling the other direction.

Just curious-- do you run them through local copies of the AVs, or use the online multi-scanners?

They're only "Designed by Apple in California". Most of the production is in large overseas factories.

DRM. And that goes for both sides of the argument.

It's like the old anti-DRM argument, though-- it only takes one bright person to crack it. In this case, it only takes one bright person to use the raw data to make the easily-digestible app that provides the right info/interest/ease to get people to start thinking. Not everyone needs to be a developer to be engaged.

I used to use DW (MX from '00-- small company, wouldn't spring for the upgrade) at work, and never touched the WYSIWYG view. The biggest advantage I've seen to DW is that it has a very good pre-generated template language. It allows you to do the sort of template-based sites with reusable snippets that you'd normally use (CMS/PHP/CGI/etc.) for, but allows you to generate them into static HTML files that require no special server-side technology to operate.

Once the charge is made, though, the dealership has their money. The only person the buyer owes money to is the credit card company. Now, there might be some liability there regarding chargebacks, as well as the CC companies taking a cut, versus the financing companies giving one, but that's about all I could imagine.

Both sides of this argument have debatable value.

On one hand, the everyday person is less likely to be the aforementioned power-seeking personality, and has not had to compromise or ignore better values to beat the competition. They did not have to work their way up through the political world, and, thus, they may likely have a less influenced or constricted view of solving problems. They could bring a detached logic to systems and procedures that have gotten too bogged down in themselves.

On the other hand, a more ordinary person, given such power without the preparation or experience of the political world, is likely to become little more than a tool of smooth-talking, manipulative power-seekers. They would not have reliable mentors or experience that would allow them to identify and withstand others' self-serving deception. Experienced politicians fill the same sort of need as having an attorney to guide a person through the maze of legal procedure and argument-- there are plenty of traps and details, both logical and absurd, relevant and irrelevant, that would blindside the average person.

He'd never go for it. I'm sure there'd be an NDA.

Missed that "not".

Could he just rent it to himself? (Although I imagine that would still end up with multiple-dipping losses due to taxes.)

Then you'd just get in trouble for trademark violation-- causing confusion and dilution by using Apple's label on a non-Apple product you're selling.