The "new" Internet... Coming Sooner Than We'd Like? Or Not Soon Enough?

[Just1L]

Hello all,

 

Through my years of being on the internet, reading wired articles from CEO's from Google, Microsoft and the likes it's apparent that the actual long-range goal is to make it so people actually, physically, own nothing. Everything will move to the cloud and subscription services where if you don't pay regularly, you can't play. Some companies are already doing this while others are close to doing it such as the software company Adobe and from what I've been reading even the new XBox will make it so you have to connect to the internet at least once a day or you can't play your games, even if it was a game you actually physically bought (I read this on the internet today so whether it's actually true or not is up for debate) although I know the above mentioned "no-ownership" theory is a true one. So my thoughts are, how do you think this might bode for musicians and CD sales? Obviously everyone is very, very hip to the fact that you can go and listen to any song you want for free and more than likely download the mp3 for your own use whether it hurts the artists or not. If the move is made, which is already happening, to where you can no longer download the mp3 but it's all streaming, couldn't this be a win for musicians and CD sales? Do you think people will like the idea of physically owning the CD rather than paying your subscription and be at the will and whim of companies? What could be put in, or given, with a CD purchase that would make people rather own it than rent it? My theory is, if you give the tech companies enough rope, eventually they will hang themselves and people will "see the light" so to speak. Just some random thoughts on it all and would be interested to hear other peoples take on it.

 

[Just1L]

Interesting, Randy.  I read an article about this trend in PC World about 3 years ago.  Cloud computing could open up apps for folks that otherwise might not have easy access to them.  But, with respect to music posted on a cloud, will it really mean you can only stream it and not download it if the cloud doesn't authorize downloads as an option?  The main "cloud" I'm familiar with is Soundcloud.  I just Googled "soundcloud rip audio" and a bunch of sites came up.  All I had to do was paste in the Soundcloud url for an audio stream in the "ripper" site's box for that and then click on download . . . and . . . POOF! I had the .mp3 of that Soundcloud audio stream on my computer.  It took like 3 seconds.  

 

I'm not sure what the future holds in that area. There used to be a lot of youtube-->MP3 converters that would do the same thing. I've used it before making Sonic and Super Mario CDs for my son. I haven't tried in quite some time but the last time I did some of those sites said I could no longer do that. I just figure it will spread. As great as it is with everything FREE and open on the web, the money that freedom takes out of hard workers is just plain theft. Similar to aggregation news sites that don't create their own content but steal stories and links from other sites and sell ads around it. They're making money off of other people's hard work. The Wild West days of the internet will come to an end eventually.