Bye Bye Physical Media

Want to see record and movie companies RUN, not walk, away from physical media like CD's and DVD's to digital downloads?

Do THIS. (if you have an invite - it's in beta until July).

What is LaLa? And the host of other sites like it popping up?

They are sites that allow users to trade physical media like cd's and movies, for very little money, if not free.

You sign up with LaLa, they send you a bunch of postage PAID envelopes, and then you list your cd (or on other services, you can list movies too) collection, then look at other people's collections, and trade what you want. With LaLa, each trade costs a dollar.

One Dollar.

This service rocks.

How can they do this legally and not pay the artists or record labels anything? Simple. The nice big BOLD statement in the user agreement that says you cannot keep a copy of a CD you trade. This absolves LaLa of the fact that many people are most likely trading CD's just long enough to rip them to their collection, then trading them to somebody else.

Without real probable cause, it's very difficult for the RIAA or anyone else to start litigating on the idea that you *might* have a copy of a CD or movie on your hard drives.

Trading like this can, and I think WILL kick the wobbly legs of physical distribution out from under it, hopefully for the final time.

'Nothin like another nail in the coffin.

(PS. Media companies, how about making pricing and download options that make sense and make users feel like they're getting their money's worth? Instead of charging more for a King Kong digital download, with NO bonus features, that it costs to go to the store and buy the DVD with tons of features? Duh. Dumbest. Move. Ever. Stuff like that just begs users to rip off the publishers just out of contempt for them.)