Kevin Kelly’s got an interesting piece on technology and music in today’s NY Times Magazine. The best part is the historical analysis, which is really quite good. The forward-looking stuff isn’t all it could be; he lists a number of factors that’ll change what we expect from music in the future, but I think he’s missed the convenience angle entirely — it is, after all, easier to immediately search out and download a song one hears and likes than to jot down the title and artist and remember to look for the CD next time you’re in a record store, assuming of course that your tastes aren’t too esoteric to be served by such stores. And he is still Kevin Kelly, which means he’s entirely ignoring the darker forces in the market (particularly pay-per-play, in which you have to re-purchase your favorite song Every Time You Play It). Worth your time, but don’t believe the hype.
