A lot of amazing responses on this topic -- I spend a lot of the
day at work talking with people who are working on how these 
various changes will work, or not, and how the record biz will
adapt, etc. and then I come home and find a bunch of Audities
emails on the same topics, from the consumer's/fans/music 
aficianado's perspective(s). Very cool.

ronald sanchez wrote:


> This all goes back to the tactile aspect of record buying...looking at the
> labels and picture sleeves, digging through the bins to find something
> new. This is a major part of music isn't it?

It is for most of us on the Audities list, and rabid music fans in
general, I suppose, but I don't think this is the audience the record
industry is targeting...they're targeting the 15 year old kid (or 
younger) who is interested in the Billboard Top 10 acts like the
Neptunes, or whatever...they don't neccessarily need or want
photos and liner notes and picture sleeves....and so these changes
are really geared for the next generation of kids who have learned
to live without the packaging, the "tactile" experience of touching
the CD or LP...for them, the tactile experience is holding the iPod
or iTunes or whatever in their hand...scanning song lists...etc.  and
so I guess I agree with what Brian Keane wrote:
> Perhaps our kids will have a different experience - and that may not 
> be a bad thing.  My only point is that in a world with only downloaded 
> purchases, kids won't have many experiences buying music.

Robert Berry wrote:
> As long as each song is a separate file, you always get a little
> hiccup or pause or click or something in between tracks, wrecking the smooth
> segue. Maybe there are players that handle this better, but I haven't
> encountered one.

I suppose (since the publishing stat rate goes up after the first 
five minutes -- and every minute thereafter) that there are always 
going to be ways that record companies will get out of paying 
publishers a higher statutory rate....meaning that you'll likely 
see songs split at segues to avoid having to pay more money....

Bryan