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how do you measure the value of an mp3?

The value of anything is what people are willing to pay -- apparently 99 cents for a downloaded song. The fact that a given thing is easy to steal does not lower its market value. Markets assume that theft is unusual.

Who owns a book? You are certainly free to transfer books and magazines, but you are not free to republish the contents. Again, the ease of copying and publishing digital content does not change the concept of honesty.

Having said that I have to admit to having a dozen songs downloaded from Napster. I quit downloading when Napster died. I might resume downloading when CD quality downloads are available at reasonable prices, with rights comparable to ownership of a CD. I don't mind paying, but I want quality better than typical MP3, and I don't want to worry about rights.

Morality aside, given that technology is marching on, if a copyrighted work isn't trending to the price of the media, then there is a nonmarket force at work. If the record companies charge a monopolistic price for junk, people won't buy it. It is their business model that is failing them.

Compare any music CD content to the DVD Lord of the Rings.

A CD made by a top artist at their peak will have a few million invested into it. Lord of the Rings has hundreds of millions invested into it. People are gobblin' up LOTR. DVD sales are up. People can pirate DVD's, or put then into VCDs but they don't. Increase the price of a DVD to $90 or $100 dollars, it would. Contrast that with a major complaing of the Music Industry: one or two good tracks, and the rest is trash.

Back to the healthy DVD industry vs. dying Music model. Five to ten minutes of material a customer wants, and forty five of junk. 10% to 20% of a CD has value to the customer, the rest is a waste of plastic and pits. Lord of the Rings, people want more than what was in the theatre, they will pay more, heck they'll pay for it twice. Once for the theatrical edition and once for the extended version. CD buyers are forced to buy stuff they don't want in order to get the stuff they do.

We have the technology to change that and the music industry is not stepping in the the new world. With a patent, if you don't advance your innovation, you can lose it. The Music Industry is doing that by default.

Put a piece of poop on a popsicle stick and offer it to people for a penny, but don't bet your farm on that business model. The music moguls did.

And now they want a government bailout through the courts.

DK

The fact that a given thing is easy to steal does not lower its market value. Markets assume that theft is unusual.

First, as has been pointed out, it is not theft. It is copy right violation.

The market analysis of something that has no intrinsic protection and no intrinsic cost, and whose entire value is determined by a monopoly established by copyright is very complicated. For instance, normally, if someone is unable to get his price for a good, he drops his price or reduces the quantity of production. In this instance they appeal to the government.