Music, like all the best things in life, should be free. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world. So compromises need to be made. I have to say personally that gnapster (the gnu version of napster) has been a renaissance of musical discovery. Any song that I hear, that ignites my passion, I can download and listen to as often as I want. I can convert my computer into my own personal radio station. The RIA has a tough case trumping those virtues.

Simply put, services like napster and the rest should charge a monthly subscription fee, all you can download. Artists would receive a proportionate share of the revenue based on how many of their songs were downloaded, percentage wise, compared to the total downloads for that month. Imagine how incredible that would be. People would be encouraged to download and share the news about music they enjoyed so others could download it to. The beauty of the idea goes on and on.

Clearly, the recording industry has been doing damage for a very long time. They've been raping part of humanity's collective artistic soul. Their reluctance to compromise with Napster shows their true nature. I only hope Napster can put up a fight a bit longer, as other services like Gnutella get a stronger foothold, against which the RIA can never recover. Simultaneously, superior encryption algorithms like Ogg Vorbis will set the stage for even more free distribution of music and video. The time has come for them to pay ... and default on their mortgages, car loans on their new porches, and payments for hair transplants. Let the new era of free software, and all its related virtues, reign supreme!

Here are some useful links for more reading:

Napster web page
Gnapster web page
Gnutella web page
Ogg Vorbis web page