05.02.00

re: This whole silly Metallica vs. Napster thing

If you don't know already, Metallica (one of the few Heavy Metal bands I've been able to tolerate since getting out of my little metalhead phase 12 years ago) is thinking about suing 330,000 of their fans for downloading mp3s of their music.

This is rediculous. It's akin to saying, "well, she made a copy of that CD she bought so she could listen to it in the car. Lets sue her!" And woe unto he who taped that thing they did with the symphony on VH1 a few months back.. you're going to lose all TV privledges.

There's been a *lot* of anger poured out over this, and I can see why, from both sides of the issue. The band feels its rights are being trampled, and the fans feel betrayed. And I agree with both.

As a music fan, I would like to be able to download just about anything I ever felt like listening to. (To date, I have not downloaded a single mp3. Until recently, I have not had a computer capable of running a player, or a hard drive big enough to store more than three of the things at a time. Eventually, I will begin downloading, because the CD drive on my iBook chews up battery power the same way I go after cheddar cheese & sourcream potato chips, and I like to listen to music when I work.)

From the artist's point of view, it can't be fun to have no control whatsoever over your creations. However, most people I know who grab mp3s either already own the album on CD/tape/vinyl, or are listening to see if it's worth buying. By blocking the distribution of mp3s, Metallica is doing more to alienate fans than the PMRC ever could. (Remember them? See.. I TOLD you I was an old-school metalhead!)

There needs to be another way of distribution or regulation of electronic media, specifically mp3s. And in the end, once all this fracas has died down, I have a feeling I'll be able to go to just about any site and grab just about any song I really wanna hear.