The AP reports that the number of legal music downloads has tripled in the first half of 2005. I’d say that’s good news. I’d say that’s because, thanks to Apple, the industry finally found a way to help people do what they want to do: listen to music wherever they want. I’d say it indicates that if you give people the chance to do the right thing, they will. I’d say it’s a good sign for humankind.
But the music industry doesn’t say that. The music industry treats its customers like thieves and idiots:
The International Federation of Phonographic Industries… credited the increase to a 13 percent rise in the number of broadband lines installed around the world, along with an industry campaign to both prosecute and educate against illegal downloading.
