Jon Johanning wrote:

>...there is the great advantage (for the consumer) of getting recordings
>directly (assuming you have a fast Internet connection, which is also
>becoming more widespread), wherever you are in the world, without having to
>put up with the capricious issuing and re-issuing policies of the record
>companies, about which there is much grumbling on this list.
>
>These companies are already feeling the heat in the pop field; it's
>beginning to look as though their days are numbered, unless they can figure
>out how to coexist with the Internet.

I just read an article on a relevant speech by Edgar Bronfman, current
head of a high-profile Montreal family with antecedents in bootlegging,
then Seagram's whisky and other legal intoxicants, and, now, in
entertainment.  "Seagram owns Universal Music Group, the world's largest
music company with an estimated 24% of the $38-billion global music market
after the completion of its $10.4-billion purchase of PolyGram NV in
December." I gather that no less than half their assets are now in music.

Bronfman was talking about big investments in music Internet-downloading
services, which, yes, he and his experts see as the way of the future for
the music industry.  The current amounts of music being dowloaded via the
Internet are already immense, and his people claim that a boom in the music
industry is on its way.  Furthermore, they consider that MP3 is bound to be
superseded by some other means.  From what I can gather, Seagrams is on the
lookout to partner with technological companies so as to set those new
means that will become the standard, to solve problems of security, etc.

In a few years, you or I will be calling toll-free phone numbers to
specify our order and give out our credit card numbers, then we'd download
from the Internet, say, some new version of Martinu's 14-minute Concerto
Grosso, and nothing more (I reckon that the idea of couplings will have
become obsolete, or merely replaced by mention of what else was also
recorded by the same artist, group or orchestra).

Given the immense reduction in manufacturing, packaging, storage and
distribution costs, etc., let's guess that it would come to $4 for that
download.  However, aside from the considerations about quality mentioned
in this thread, I've always thought portability was a serious limitation
with the MP3 format, or with any Internet download method.

So, in the interests of portability, I suppose I'd then imprint the
downloaded information onto the disc I'd set aside for my latest Martinu
selection ...and hey, presto!...my new CD would be ready, complete with my
choice couplings.  Then, I could either transfer the original download on
my hard drive onto some super-zip drive, for storage, or erase it to make
room for other uses.

So tell me, you futurists and tech-savvy types out there: Have I got this
right?

Bert Bailey, in Ottawa

 [Please limit further discussion to the applicablility of MP3 technology
 in the classical music world, and not in the music industry in general
 or the techniques surrounding MP3 recording/archiving.  Thanks.  -Dave]