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Free Content: Why Not? via Stephen Downes
Quote: “While the battle rages on, piling up legal fees and taking the joy out of music, a simpler solution is on the horizon. The best way to stem this tidal wave of thievery is to give the music away.
Free content, by itself, is not at all that unusual. Broadcast television is “free”–at least to the viewer–courtesy of ad-supported subsidies, as are radio, many concerts and sporting events. But even those services commanding a fee today should become free tomorrow as the economics of music distribution take radical new shape.”
Comment: Interesting article on how music should be distributed…and Stephen extends it to represent a model for distribution of educational content. I’m not sure exactly how things will unfold for content (music, video, education)…but I’m quite sure it will be dramatically different from what we are seeing now. I think (hope) it will place control in the hands of the content user…and service provision (or value-added distribution) as the revenue model for the content creator…