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Could it be the concept of "flat-rate" connections?

It seems that people much prefer to buy a service or product when their total costs are fixed and known in advance. That's why most people, even the relatively small users, often opt for a flat-rate dial-up account even though it might well be cheaper to pay by the hour.

This attitude is also reflected in the way that the vast majority of DSL users in NZ prefer to opt for the much slower JetStream Starter package with its almost-flat rate rather than have to face over-cap volume charges of an unknown magnitude.

But I'm not going to talk about Net access today -- oh no.

I'm talking about helping the recording industry to find a new model for selling music over the Net.

But flat-rate music isn't anything new. Several companies have already launched subscription-based services where, for a fixed monthly amount, you can download up to a certain number of tracks.

Unfortunately (of course) most of these services only provide music using formats that are drenched digital rights management (DRM) restrictions -- so burning a CD you can listen to on your car-stereo is out of the question.

And that's what's holding this concept back.

The recording industry has to accept that for any Net-based music marketing and distribution system to realise its full potential, they're going to have to let people burn their own CDs from the downloaded files -- and those CDs have to be playable in a regular CD player.

This "right/ability to burn" is where Apple's iTunes seems to have won out over those who came before -- although it's not flat-rate, you pay just under a dollar a track.

iTunes has already been outstandingly successful, with the millionth track being sold in a surprisingly short amount of time -- but would more people be encouraged to use it for a monthly or annual flat-rate subscription?

If, as the recording industry claims, huge numbers of their recordings are being pirated via P2P networks, surely it would be better to get *some* revenue from those who want to indulge in a smorgasbord of musical overload?

I know that I would be sorely tempted to spend $50 a month on a subscription to such a service -- whereas right now I probably spend less than that on CDs over an entire year.

So why would I spend $600 a year when I'm currently spending just $50?

Mainly because such a service would let me "try out" lots of music I'm currently unable to sample -- because I don't use P2P and I'm not prepared to "take a punt" by laying out $30 or more on a CD that *might* be okay.

I wonder if there are others out there who might be similarly inclined to up their music-spend if the right service was available... would you?

iTunes is a good step forward and it does offer some convenience -- but at US$0.99 a track, it doesn't appear to provide any cost-savings over actually buying a CD down at your local music store.

Surely, given that there's no pressing or freight charges, and that the overheads of running a website are a lot less (per unit sold) than running a bricks and mortar store -- the prices should be a whole lot lower than they are at iTunes?

And speaking of running a website -- why is it that when I tried to click on some of "Today's Top Songs" on this page, neither Netscape 4.x, Mozilla Firebird, nor IE6 would spit up anything sensible?

If any Aardvark readers want to share an opinion on today's column or add something, you're invited to chip in and have your say in The Aardvark Forums or, if you prefer, you can contact me directly.

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