Matt D From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 9502 posts, RR: 51 Posted (12 years 6 months 1 week 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 684 times:
Here we have a schizoid situation brought about and perpatuated by Napster (including all Napster copycats) users and the music companies alike.
Two things I feel are indisputable:
CD prices have mushroomed from an average of $14 to about $19 within the last two years.
Napster users have no intention to buy what they download.
So here we have our quandry:
Napster proponents argue that the costs of CD's are too high. Music companies argue that Napster users siphon off revenue from lost sales, causing the need for higher CD prices to offset th. So, CD prices go up. MORE people use Napster. Sensing a further loss in revenue, the CD prices go up AGAIN, causing MORE people to use it.
It's a vicious cycle from which there appears no exit.
Is it a case of greed on the part of the record companies? Is it a case of a new generation of tightwad kids trying to slither out of paying? In other words, 'legalized' shoplifting.
I hear that Napster is going to start charging on a per use basis (which IMHO they should've been doing all along). Will that bring CD prices down, or will just a new Napster-like site pop up, taking us back to square one?
747-451 From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 2417 posts, RR: 6 Reply 1, posted (12 years 6 months 1 week 2 days ago) and read 661 times:
Napster is the result of $20.00 CD's and the fact that there isn't a single artist out right now that I would even bother spending 10 cents, let alone 20 dollars on!
BTW, I don't bother with Napster either, since an artists work is theirs and not for FREE unless they want it to be. It is their right not to be stolen from.
Aa737 From United States of America, joined Oct 1999, 849 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (12 years 6 months 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 645 times:
I use Napster and buy CDs. There are some atrists/groups that I really like, and I will enjoy listening to all the songs on the CD. In this case I will buy the CD. CD prices are high, but I am used to paying 16 pounds in England (~$23) so I actually feel like CDs are a good price here. (The same goes for gas with me, after the prices in England I don't find $2 a gallon overly expensive.)
Most of the stuff I download off napster is stuff I would have never bought the CD for, I only wanted one song so it wasn't worth spending the $20. I would have just gone with out the song.
I think when napster starts charging some people will stick with it, but a lot will find some other program offering the same services.
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From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 9502 posts, 
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