<< I see where parallels seem apparent. But the analogy is flawed because the material ISN'T getting played on the radio so that people can hear it before sampling it. What they're doing is downloading something that may have caught their interest (latest "hot" title, referred by a friend, what have you) without necessarily hearing it first. If they hate it they delete it....if they like it....they've got it for free with no initiative to purchase it....save maybe their guilty concience. Bwahahaha.>> I think the point, though, is that downloading CAN be a way to augment or even replace radio airplay--people can find out things via word of mouth or press or what have you, and then download a single from the album and listen to it. If they like it, hopefully they'll buy the entire record. Obviously this only really works with more serious music fans, but aren't serious music fans the ones who are going to bother to read about/hear about a band and then go download a song they've never heard before? Merge Records has tried this some lately, by making radio current singles by bands like Spoon available through their website. Certainly worked on me, and I think it's precisely the right idea. --J