Palindrome wrote:

] "From the advent of the player piano, every new means of
] reproducing sound has struck a dissonant chord with musical
] copyright owners, often resulting in federal litigation. This
] appeal is the latest reprise of that recurring conflict, and
] one
] of a continuing series of lawsuits between the recording
] industry and distributors of file-sharing computer software."

There is a YEAR LONG course at MTSU's Recording Industry Management program that studies this ONE topic. The music industry has been the motivator behind incredible abuses of the copyright laws for nearly 100 years, and it has ALWAYS been behind the curve when it comes to technology or the market.

It has done whatever it took to keep the patron model churning along. Just like Microsoft, the RIAA has effectively strangled innovation out of the system and kept things status quo in an effort to control it. And here we are, in the 21st century, and we've made almost ZERO progress. There's been nearly NO innovation in the industry, even from a production standpoint, since the early 90's. We still make the same music with the same tools, and distribute it in the same way. The only thing that has changed is the price point for production has turned into a donut, and that's because the industry has forced that move due to it's incompetence. You can hear the result of that for yourself when you listen to any of the crap on the airwaves.

Next to the telecommunications industry, I cannot think of another that is so resistant to change and progress. Maybe the Amish.