"If an artist commits to release music on a weekly or biweekly basis, then consumers can make a commitment knowing they are going to get something new and hopefully exciting for their 99 cents. If the commitment is strong enough, it's feasible that artists could sell subscriptions. ... My guess is that consumers will feel better about subscribing to an artist and getting a song a week or every 2 than dropping 10 dollars at a time for an album."
Would it work? Who knows? But with the tyranny of the CD broken and millions of songs available without copy protection for a buck or less, it's time for the public to do its share and stop stealing music.
More back-to-the-future: My column on hooking up old PCs to new HDTV sets drew advice from a reader named Ron, who connected a computer to his new set and, on a whim, tried running one of those old aquarium screen savers. He loved it: "It is the easiest fish tank to take care of. I plan on keeping one of my very old laptops connected to the TV just for this feature."
