You are right to bitch about this, but that’s the way it is. Being honest costs sometimes.

Let’s complain about stuff that really matters in life, like health care, war, energy, climate change, clean water, families. And whether Kanye West was a jackass.

The counter point was that for the first time ever you were given credit for a previous purchase of music! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.

But some specific statements were made that seemed misleading.

>> the pirate enjoys a far superior product and experience for free than the customer who pays<<> higher-quality sound, and no restrictions<> Until the music industry figures out how to reverse this equation,<<<

Give the devil his due, they have it figured out. What they offer through iTunes and Amazon is a superior buying experience and a high quality product without restrictions.

I'm no shill, and I don't think our point of views are actually much different. It is more of a half full vs half empty sort of a thing. Just as you see a negative from this I see a positive from this. It will be even more interesting once we see what happens with cocktail. Apple may again offer (at a discounted price) additional features for albums I have already purchased. They don't need to but it would make my choice to purchase through iTunes a higher value proposition, not a lower one (even though it might cost me money) because my existing investment is being carried forward.

It is hard to compete with the value of stolen if you are ok with that.

“Sure, this has not always been true”

Isn’t that the whole point of the article? It wasn’t until very recently where legal music started to approach the quality, availability and portability of pirated tunes. But the horses left this barn long ago. It will take years to readjust attitudes, if that’s even possible.

“but easy to use P2P has not always been true ether.”

Napster nearly a decade ago was one of the easiest music products even to this day. Quality and selection were never a problem until the record companies started (rightly) sabbotaging the catalog with junk music. IMO, itunes is one of the more bloated, klunky music programs available today.

“stealing is still wrong”

About the only thing I agree with.

Ok, so all pirated products are cheaper if you throw out the whole THEFT/illegal aspect of it. But your other points about music just aren’t true.

Finding music on the iTMS is faster and easier than even the best P2P networks (notable exceptions exists but they are very few).

As for quality, you would be hard pressed to consistently do better than the 256bit AAC encoding done by apple.

Oh ya! and there are no restrictions on purchased music on iTunes.

Sure, this has not always been true, but easy to use P2P has not always been true ether. I know a lot of people with Crap mp3’s from the good old days. And let me tell you, there is no simple button to press to make sure all of those files are updated to the newest versions like on iTunes.

So the underlying message I see is that it pays to pay for your music in a digital format more than in any other format that you have ever been able to pay for music and stealing is still wrong.

But the underlying message of this article holds true: it pays to be a music pirate and sucks to be a paying customer.

In most other industries, pirated products typically provide less value for their lower or free cost. Pirated movies typically have poor sound and video quality. Pirated handbags don’t carry the true Gucci tag and can be spotted as fakes and often fall apart quickly. Pirated drugs may be ineffective or even deadly.

But with pirated music, the pirate enjoys a far superior product and experience for free than the customer who pays. The pirate has a virtually unlimited catalog, higher-quality sound, and no restrictions on where the music can be played.

Until the music industry figures out how to reverse this equation, the music industry will continue its free-fall.

For the record, I have a good job and pay for my music. But I know very few others who actually pay for music anymore.