"It sees the move as a way of generating more money for the record industry, which would use it to discover new talent."
The self-reinforcing loop between capital and talent would be more efficient as a self reinforcing loop between consumer and talent. Of course that such a system of direct distribution would obsolate the record companies would violate the #1 tenet of neo-liberalism; More Money for Me!
For people without access to credit cards, (such as the vast majority in developing countries who might only have web access through internet cafes), even a 'nominal' charge creates an insurmountable barrier to entry.
The net is revolutionary because the barrier to information access and dissemination is so low. This is why it is important to discuss free services, particularly before they become ubiquitous.
Slashdot Mirror
StatCounter is Freemium while NetApps is paid only; meaning that NetApps have a bias towards for-profit sites?
Germany showed a slight increase:
Not so, you can break down the StatCounter stats by country: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-CN-monthly-200810-200911 http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-RU-monthly-200810-200911
http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-daily-20080701-20090505 You can break it down by country or region
"It sees the move as a way of generating more money for the record industry, which would use it to discover new talent."
The self-reinforcing loop between capital and talent would be more efficient as a self reinforcing loop between consumer and talent. Of course that such a system of direct distribution would obsolate the record companies would violate the #1 tenet of neo-liberalism; More Money for Me!
For this to happen would indeed require a collapse of civilisation, as the evolution of species is caused by isolation.
However, there is no guarantee that because humans are the cause of the up and coming mass extinction, that they will also be the benefactors.
Personally I place my bet on the rat or seagull.
For people without access to credit cards, (such as the vast majority in developing countries who might only have web access through internet cafes), even a 'nominal' charge creates an insurmountable barrier to entry.
The net is revolutionary because the barrier to information access and dissemination is so low. This is why it is important to discuss free services, particularly before they become ubiquitous.
Money to spend on web services is a privilege.