IN 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.
By the way, Amazon.com sells DRM-free 256kbps MP3 files for 89 or 99 cents. It’s a good alternative to iTunes. The files are watermarked to show that they were bought from Amazon.