Napster because it pushed the industry to the precipice it so richly deserved to be shoved over. Then it blinked and became just another cog in the machine. Some people are still buying them. But the artistic message of Napster is that consumers, like critics, are tired of sifting through the filler, burned out by the tyranny of 70 minutes of just about anybody. Life is a mix.
Today needs a playlist that's completely different from yesterday's.
Pennsylvania Now we are told that the future holds the degraded sound of MP3 or its spawn, played through tiny speakers attached to our computers, and that generations of music geeks who have fetishized the objects of our adoration will be replaced by the cyber-savvy. It's easy if you try. In this speeded-up world, people barely listen to individual songs all the way through, let alone full CDs. It's all about access rather than possession. I already burned about three with only the songs I like.