Full of Sound and Fury

I didn't comment on this piece from TechCrunch entitled "The inevitable march of recorded music towards free" since it largely recapitulates stuff that I've been wittering on about for ages (although it's good to see an A-lister joining the choir).

However, what is really interesting is the level of, er, wrong-headedness exhibited in the comments - about how copying digital files is "stealing" (infringement of an intellectual monopoly, actually), about how musicians never create without concrete financial incentives (oh yeah? Ask Schubert), how no one could make enough money from touring to make up for loss of income from CDs (apart from these musicians, that is) etc. etc.

If the readers of TechCrunch can be so ill informed, maybe this is going to take a little longer than I thought (or maybe TechCrunch readers are dafter than I thought....)