| Paul,   Interesting, but naaaah. As far as first run, new hits are concerned, 
there will always, I believe, be something to 
hold in your hand. Most consumers still want that. In fact, the price on that 
first run item may well go up, as they 
will be produced in more limited runs and people will be aware of that, and pay 
accordingly.   But in 
terms of activating back catalogue for digital download, this could prove a 
bonanza. Things that would be too costly 
to re-issue in the regular retail stream will become part and parcel of digital 
distribution. Over time we can  expect 
to see many things come back to us we thought never would, and at price 
like 99 cents who could resist? It may 
help to fill the void, also, left by the premature death of the 45 rpm single, 
never replaced adeqautely by CDs.   The 
other side of that coin being that now they'll REALLY be screaming when the 
tape is not in the vault, or is unplayable. Hey- I swear I had nothing to do with 
it...   David N. LewisAssistant 
Classical Editor
 All Media Guide
 301 E. Liberty Suite 400
 Ann Arbor, MI 
48104
 davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx
   
  
  Here is an interesting thought.  Will streaming as indicated here 
  make produced/manufacturered recordings obsolete...perhaps similar to what the 
  digital camera may be doing to the photo film industry (if cameras become 
  cheap enough?).   RECORD INDUSTRY CHANGING TUNE ON INTERNET Listen.com added the music 
  library of Universal Music Group to it's streaming-music catalog making it 
  the only subscription service to include music from the five major record 
  labels. Another deal signaling a change in the record industry's acceptance 
  of the online music industry was between FullAudio and Warner Music. The 
  deal allows consumers to purchase any of 25,000 tracks and burn them to CD 
  for 99 cents. Phil Leigh, vice president of equity research for Raymond 
  James & Associates said, "We've seen a really seismic shift in the 
  record label industry." Chris Gladwin, CEO of Full Audio agrees, "The music 
  industry is taking steps to really make digital distribution happen in the 
  right way. This is like the beginning of the music industry at large 
  embracing digital music and saying this is a part of my 
  future..." [SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News. AUTHOR: Dawn C. 
  Chmielewski] (http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/3578189.htm ) (c) 
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