Thoughts to ponder while camped out in front of the Apple store.
Launch day for perhaps one of the most widely anticipated - and certainly one of the most wildly hyped - consumer electronics products in years seems an appropriate time to reflect on the state of the digital music revolution. Apple's iPhone combines, among other features, the high-end cell phone and the now ubiquitous iPod music player. (For deep background, see Marty Schwimmer's analysis of the brief trademark fight Apple stumbled into when it announced the name of the new product nearly six months ago here and here.) As such, it represents the convergence of the phenomenon often credited with pushing the music industry into its current state of plunging sales and the phenomenon much of the industry is looking to for salvation. Regardless of one's view of file-sharing web sites and CD-ripping laptops, the fact that the iPod has been a catalyst to major changes in the way consumers acquire and listen to music cannot be denied. Less certain is whether the practice of purchasing ring tones and other tunes for cell phones will provide the new and sustainable stream of revenue the industry so desperately needs.
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