Hi Nico

I think you're right and that's an interesting take on things - adding value (which you can charge for) by making content transportable. The value seems to be increasingly less in the actual content itself and more in the ease with which you can find it, access it, search it, store it, manipulate it, share it, interact with it etc.

All reasons why content / knowledge management to create 'smart' content (where the value can be milked) isn't about to go away. We're still scratching the surface on that one...

In some ways good content (which is expensive to create and maintain) is also increasingly a vehicle by which to engage customers and create a customer relationship from which value is derived in another way i.e. not directly from the content itself.

Many publishers don't make much money from subscriptions or advertising but make it from events i.e. their content is a means to creating a customer database for events. People subscribing to the likes of Forrester do so primarily for access to the analysts who write the report (for their off the record insight and opinions) rather than the written word itself. Some TV production companies (the bigger ones like Endemol) are now looking at *giving away* their program content to broadcasters in exchange the interactive rights where they derive their revenues i.e. the value is in the interactions not the content itself.

Ashley

Yes you are referring to DRM Digital Rights Management and its "lock down" via hardware - the ideal scenario from content owners perspective - or so is assumed. But consider again Ringtones - a SUBSTANTIAL business around digital content was developed without DRM. There is nothing stopping mobile fans of getting KEYPRESS infos for free on the web, and punching in to their handset - but it's a hassle, and they rather pay £1.50 to get someone to send it to their phone - it's CONVENIENT. So I believe the trick has to be to make the transaction for cross-platform use (i.e. from PC to MP3 player of from network to mobile handset) EASIER than any illegal workaround. Which is not in favour of DRM... the iTunes store is still seen critical by many in the music business for its perceived softness on DRM - but I think that is just one reason why it is successful - it's easy to use, and the consumer proposition doesn't require a law degree to be understood.

On 10:41:45 12 December 2003 odaenathus wrote:
>Right. But the problem when you start talking about adding
>value by providing transportable media, is that you need
>the technical infrastructure to prevent it being
>transported...
>
>At the moment, savvy users are using widely available
>formats like MP3, which they can play anywhere. To enforce
>this type of cost-based transportation, you need the CE
>companies and the content providers on board. Problem is
>that there's more money in consumer electronics than music
>(or film) which is why you can buy your DVD player with
>any region capability so soon after the film industry
>thought they had a cast iron solution...

On 23:55:08 13 December 2003 odaenathus wrote:

> 250m p2p users worldwide isn't that much
> in the big scheme of things.

P2P users are predominantly located in the West countries where I believe majority of music is actually _sold_. I am not sure where 250m figure coming from but various sources suggest it is at least 100m which is a LOT of people for P2P as we know it that was in existance for just over few years.

Just wait for cheap Mp3 players with bluetooth build in that will allow P2P sharing in school, on bus stop, anywhere via radio waves that are not controlled by anyone.

> What I'm really wondering, though, is which proposition is
> going to entice current p2p users, while satisfying the majors.

Indeed what would that be? IMHO it will have to offer advantages as good as P2P with _acceptable_ price. In practice this means that music will have to be in open format (MP3), unlimited fast downloads using non-propriatory software with published APIs, price - £15-25 a month.

Is RIAA prepared to do that? I think not even a nano-second before it disintegrates. It may sound impossible to some but if you think logically about it then a structure with 90%+ of costs added by RIAA admin simply can't exist as it is in the Digital Age.

Rant is off and now going back to original question - I believe that charging for content will work and this very site in my view is example of that happening - acceptable cost, ease of use, ability to print, read documents in industry standard non-DRMed format is a winner - even I decided to subscribe :)

regards,

Alex