But I assume you're talking about CD's, so I'd just like to know which music store you go to.
It doesn't really depend much on which store I go to, here in Stockholm most of there stores will let me listen to a record before I buy it. (I usually just listen to some of the tracks at - dare I say it? - amazon.com before I buy a record though.)
As with the "the smallest artists will lose most" thing, I believe that artists like Metallica will continue to make a lot of money from other stuff than the actual records, like concerts and t-shirts, etc. Smaller artists don't have same ability to do that.
Also, not all who listen to trance are DJ's and therefore don't need the vinyl. And since Napster seems to be by far the easiest way to get for instance trance music, those small artists will continue to lose opportunities to sell records since people just download the music instead of searching for it off the net.
I'm not going to comment on the availability of trance. It's probably like you say, that there isn't much trance to be bought in the record stores, but then again, most trance artists don't sue people for spreading their music so if Napster was only about spreading trance music there wouldn't be much controversy surrounding it.
As for the rest of your post, what you are saying is that:
1. You do not want to buy music that you haven't heard. If you try asking the people who work at the record store they will probably let you listen to the record once (or maybe even twice) before buying the record. So that's not a big problem.
2. You can't afford to buy records. Well, I feel sorry for you, but it's still not okay to steal something just because you can't afford it. (If I'm wrong here you are welcome to explain to me when it's okay, I have some stuff I can't afford myself.)
3. Other people buy the records, so the artists will make money anyway. Okay, so Metallica probably will continue to make money despite Napster, but as more people start stealing music, the sales will go down and it is the artists that don't sell too many records (trance?..) that will lose the most money.
So, even if Napster is a great way to get the MP3's you want, you should be aware that you are doing something wrong everytime you download a copyrighted song. I think it's right to try to limit the effectiveness of tools like Napster by banning them at campuses. The bandwidth that the pirates suck up can be put to better use (by using it for Allegiance for instance...).
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But I assume you're talking about CD's, so I'd just like to know which music store you go to.
It doesn't really depend much on which store I go to, here in Stockholm most of there stores will let me listen to a record before I buy it. (I usually just listen to some of the tracks at - dare I say it? - amazon.com before I buy a record though.)
As with the "the smallest artists will lose most" thing, I believe that artists like Metallica will continue to make a lot of money from other stuff than the actual records, like concerts and t-shirts, etc. Smaller artists don't have same ability to do that.
Also, not all who listen to trance are DJ's and therefore don't need the vinyl. And since Napster seems to be by far the easiest way to get for instance trance music, those small artists will continue to lose opportunities to sell records since people just download the music instead of searching for it off the net.
/n1x0n
I'm not going to comment on the availability of trance. It's probably like you say, that there isn't much trance to be bought in the record stores, but then again, most trance artists don't sue people for spreading their music so if Napster was only about spreading trance music there wouldn't be much controversy surrounding it.
As for the rest of your post, what you are saying is that:
1. You do not want to buy music that you haven't heard. If you try asking the people who work at the record store they will probably let you listen to the record once (or maybe even twice) before buying the record. So that's not a big problem.
2. You can't afford to buy records. Well, I feel sorry for you, but it's still not okay to steal something just because you can't afford it. (If I'm wrong here you are welcome to explain to me when it's okay, I have some stuff I can't afford myself.)
3. Other people buy the records, so the artists will make money anyway. Okay, so Metallica probably will continue to make money despite Napster, but as more people start stealing music, the sales will go down and it is the artists that don't sell too many records (trance?..) that will lose the most money.
So, even if Napster is a great way to get the MP3's you want, you should be aware that you are doing something wrong everytime you download a copyrighted song. I think it's right to try to limit the effectiveness of tools like Napster by banning them at campuses. The bandwidth that the pirates suck up can be put to better use (by using it for Allegiance for instance...).
/n1x0n