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If CD sales are off, I think the music industry needs to look within. Perhaps the product is not what it was. Or more likely, maybe the pricepoint is just too high. Now that Joe Six-pack sees that he can buy a stack of 100 blank CDs for under $20, he now realizes just how much he's been getting ripped off these past 20 years.

Speaking for myself, I'd buy a lot more CDs if I could get them for a reasonable price. It's a royal pain in the neck downloading MP3s and then burning them to disc. I've got a few "homemade" CDs and they just aren't the same and I hardly listen to them. I'd much rather have the genuine CD with the artwork, liner notes and its crisp, clean sound.

The other day I was dying to hear "New York's a Lonely Town (When you're the only surfer boy around)". Now, where could I go to hear this, let alone buy it at a reasonable price?

My obvious solution was to go to Kazaa.

The obvious solution for the music industry is to negotiate some kind of fee with the software or hardware industry.

Excellent points. I can honestly say that I own CDs for about 90% of the songs I've downloaded, and the rest of them are simply older, unique tunes that won't drive me to buy a whole CD just to hear them. I'd love to be able to pay a fee to download these tunes, especially if there is an automatic credit given back for those who then buy a full CD afterward.

While the legality and morality of this downloading process are clear, it should be pointed out that this is precisely what drove the publishing industry to come out with paperback books -- they made their products cheap enough that nobody would bother copying them.

When I first discovered Napster most of the stuff I downloaded was music I already had on album, tape, or disc. Sometimes all three. Mostly, it was stuff I used to have because I had my things in a storeroom for a couple of years and....let's just say that bad things happen if you keep your stuff in a storeroom. I hate Dallas, eh. And newer bands' songs that I downloaded usually led to a cd purchase if I liked it and could find it.
They could probably sell new cd's for $6.98 a pop and come out way ahead. If only they wouldn't spend all that money promoting the crap they try to force upon the public. Anywhere I go, I tune my radio to the bottom of the dial to find a college radio station. As long as they keep their mouth shut about thier politics and play some music, it's fine with me.

Critics of the industry say there's no proven link between declining CD sales and soaring music downloading; the industry says it's obvious what's happening.

If the product were good, people would purchase it. I finally bought some CDs, (my new car has a CD player and the computer plays CDs) and, even with the CDs of older music, it isn't the same...no artwork, no poetry, no information about the group. As far as the new stuff, what's worth buying? Without the total concept of those old vinyl albums, and without the innovation and talent of the musicians, it's mostly junk "innovated" by commercial, pandering interests. The "artists" pander for contracts, rather than develop their skills.

I see this current situation as a good thing. Maybe musicians who have something to say and play will go out and make money the old-fashioned way, by performing in relatively small venues.

Last year, I saw Marshall Tucker (still innovating and fresh with the lead's nephew in the group), Matthew and Gunnar Nelson (nice mix of their music and dad's...appeal across the generations), Arlo Guthrie/Judy Collins (great stage presences, still talented). Nobody was avoiding paying by standing outside and listening. Why? It was worth the price of being there.

If the contemporary groups would stop whining and play these small venues, they could make money and not be controlled by big music brother.

If CD sales are off, I think the music industry needs to look within. Perhaps the product is not what it was. Or more likely, maybe the pricepoint is just too high.

Speaking for myself, I'd buy a lot more CDs if I could get them for a reasonable price. It's a royal pain in the neck downloading MP3s and then burning them to disc.

Hear, hear! I agree completely.