[GlennD]

I may have watched too much Star Trek (they just whip out their PADD and access any written or musical work at the drop of a hat), but I can see a future where consumers simply purchase access to 'content' in general, whether by subscription or some kind of micropayment. Artists would receive compensation whenever someone accessed their work. So rather than worry about where your files are stored, you know you always have access to all of the available content.

I think the hard part of the argument is that both sides are right. Consumers want unfettered access to the content they have purchased, independent of device or file format. Artists, writers and performers want (and deserve) compensation for the creative work they've done. I don't see that either side is wrong.

My own opinion is that compromises will be made to extend the life of the current business model, but in the end reality and technology are going to require a complete change to the model. A structure like I describe above flattens things out - piracy becomes irrelevant (it's no longer financially worth it), but you also probably don't have the extremely wealthy authors and artists either.