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One that caught my eye was hosted by Davy Jones (former Monkey) and set about plugging a compilation of hit singles from the 1960s.

The ad repeatedly pointed out that many of the tracks on this 6-CD set could not be found in record stores and that if you wanted them, you'd have to pay a ridiculous sum to Time Life for this entire set.

Well these people have obviously never heard of P2P file trading or the alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1960s newsgroup.

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By logging on to the Net and warming up their CD burner, cyber-savvy lawbreakers could very easily create their own compilation sets, just like the ones advertised for a 3-figure sum on TV -- and for the price of a few blank disks.

"These disks are not available in stores" -- was the catch-cry of this infomercial -- but one has to ask "why not?"

Obviously Time-Life hold the copyright on this particular compilation set, and there are other similar sets you *can* buy in record stores -- but how log must we wait before all our store-bought music is available in user-defined compilation format?

Why do record companies demand that retail outlets carry piles and piles of pressed CDs that take up valuable shelf-space and require the investment of significant capital -- when it would be so much easier to handle the whole process a lot more efficiently?

With the cost of disk storage at an all-time low, the entire contents of most record stores could be put on a single hard drive. Even better, massive amounts music of "out of production" disks could also be kept on a "record-store server" from which customers could select the tracks they want and have them burnt to a CD while they wait.

Let's see...

The technology exists, after all, lots of people are already doing this at home, using the Internet as their "record-store server".

The recording industry still has access to all those "out of production" titles -- as witnessed by the many compilation sets currently on the market.

There *is* money to be made from the compilation CD market, as witnessed by the number of such sets that seem to pop up, especially around Christmas time.

So what's the hold-up?

I guess it's just the stupid, archaic, "head in the sand" recording companies who are just too greedy and moronic to move into the 21st century. Can they really complain therefore, when they effectively force customers to break the law in order to create their own compilation disks?

Or could it be that they're just waiting for the WMA format, with its hard DRM, to replace the conventional CD before they start allowing retailers to burn CDs. Don't they trust those retailers perhaps?

Whatever the reason, the recording industry continues to drive increasingly larger sections of its market to "alternative sources", simply because they won't take advantage of the opportunities this new technology offers them.

I wonder how many people, instead of buying a record voucher (good for just one CD) for their kids this Christmas, will simply get them a broadband internet connection (good for all you can eat)?

Fingers out folks
Come on, I'm still waiting for the deluge of suggestions for the Christmas Eve "Lighten Up" extravaganza. Get your suggestions in now!

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