[Bush2000]

You assume that people over 30 give a rat's patootie about the latest music. Or that people under 30 give a rat's posterior about fine points of law. There was once a prefect digital medium (from the artist's point of view). It was called digital audio tape. I can't recall ever seeing one.

You're certainly free to try and find alternative media. But if the source media is encrypted effectively, it will make it that much harder for you to transfer onto new media.

[Paladin2]

You must be a cog (or wannabe cog) in the hollywood/musical - industrial complex and certainly are not from the hollowed tradition of MIT hackers. You should'a dropped out and joined Bill Gates in the parallel universe.

Once the info is free in the analog state, it can always be recaptured. There is, however, no substitute for the live performance. Arguing as to the quality of the copy (of a live performance) is analogous (and just as futile) to arguing as to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Digital copies vs. scratched analog copies is really not the issue. A copy is a copy and NOT the original performance. It is a memory of the live performance.