as music keeps shifting towards a digital format, i've witnessed the death of two maverick online technologies get stifled as record companies struggle to maintain its ownership and distribution means of music. years back the grunts of james hetfield and metallica managed to shut napster down. the latest victim being UK based OINK with its private invite-only system of rabid music lovers. what made oink special was its status as "secret club" for music geeks in hopes that would avoid the trappings of napster-like notoriety.

like the 19th century luddites that destroyed new textile machineries and technologies, the record companies are the modern day luddites purposely sabotaging the evolving music marketplace which directly threatens its livelihood. many "old" media formats like the newspapers have shifted their business model and realized the future lies in the online environment. the new york times or toronto star is not threatening google news or yahoo news with senseless lawsuits but adapting to the realities of its market.

the death of the cd is coming and the music industry failed to prepare for its demise. the cultural and values of today's music audience is changing; directly related to the plummeting cd sales. personally speaking, i've gone from arranging cds on my wall in chronological order to neatly ensuring my itunes library is properly tagged with its artist, album, and track fields. the idea that i can buy and fm transmitter to play my ipod--thus my entire music library--in the car has changed the way i consume music.

the end of oink is disappointing but the marginal costs of its spin off ensures something will fill its void. certainly, the internet buzz surrounding the tiny 180 000 oink community will expand as music fans read up on the breakthroughs it made.

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