Just read this amazing article from
The WSJ. I didn't know this but apparently there are a number of colleges across the nation that offer students access to music download services for free!! You heard me, FREE! Services like the new Napster which are basically subscription based services.
The amazing part of this story is that students aren't using it. Instead, they are using iTunes and sharing files illegally over Peer to Peer networks. I find this behavior fascinating. Here is a college offering music to its students for free. They can download and listen to anything from their music libraries for free. It doesn't cost them a cent. I don't know about you but I was dirt poor in college and would take anything given to me for free. So what gives?
This is yet another example of where DRM and like technologies are just NOT working. People want to own their music, not rent it. They are choosing convenience over free and the students feel that it is more convenient to purchase music than to get it for free. Am I the only one that thinks this is astounding? How much more proof do we need to show that we are willing to pay for good products and that controlling DRM is not the answer?
Anyway, give it a read. Very interesting article.