Digital Home Thoughts: The Rise And Fall Of The Music Industry

Yesterday on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" program, Terry Gross interviewed Steve Knopper, a Rolling Stone contributing editor, on the history of the recording industry from the end of the vinyl era to the future. Of course, DRM and content protection are discussed at length, but are not the sole topic. Also discussed are the differences in the market caused by the advent of the CD, home computers, DAT, CD burner, MP3 player and on to the future where the CD may cease to exist and the music industry itself may struggle for relevance. Anyone that has ever downloaded a song illegally or has done so legally and then fought with DRM issues with their device(s) will enjoy this show. It lasts roughly 30 minutes. The main article link takes you to the RSS feed that you can copy and paste into your favorite podcasting software. It aired yesterday, but the RSS feed is showing it as a January 15 show. You'll know right away if you have the wrong one because it starts right into the story. Alternatively, you can download the MP3 file directly or use the WMA stream to whatever device or desktop you have.

Be sure to listen to the show before disputing anything. You may be surprised at some of the conclusions presented by Mr. Knopper.