Was Napster the Digital Music Answer?

Related link: http://wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,45234,00.html

An article on Wired.com ponders a similar idea that I had back in February: What if Napster was the answer?

It was pretty clear four months ago that shutting down Napster was only buying the record labels time, but in those four months we've continued to see an influx in file-sharing programs and users. We're now to the point of a digital free-for-all. Did the RIAA blow it's chance to control digital music distribution by shutting down Napster?

Aimster's Johnny Deep may have put it best, "If (the labels) killed Napster -- and that's 'if,'" they killed their only chance of a viable online strategy. Napster was easy enough to use, and there was loyalty and confidence in the brand. That's something the labels can't recreate, even if they spend a hundred million."

The newer file-sharing networks are faster, easier to use, and more important, have customer loyalty. With the increased popularity of Morpheus, Audiogalaxy, and Gnutella combined with the daunting task of going after individual users who infringe upon the labels copyrights on these types of networks, it looks like Napster wasn't so bad after all. Napster offered the RIAA a deal, and the RIAA chose to go their own route. That choice just might've been the RIAA's only hope, as the label's pay-for-play services look doomed from the start.

Three reasons (I have many more, but three are fine for now) why the subscription services will fail.

• The record labels are proposing their own format, meaning their subscribers will be tied to their computer in order to hear the music they paid for.
• Both services offer only a limited amount of music on their respective sites, depending on which labels are affiliated with the service.
• You can get this music for free very easily in the format that you prefer from the file-sharing network of your choice.

I'm so looking forward to how the next few months play out, as the RIAA realizes that they will need to work with file sharing networks instead of against them. The question is wether or not they'll be given the chance to work with them. The only way I forsee an RIAA victory is through succeeding in copy-protecting their CD's, which they've been doing secretly for the past few months.