Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music by John Alderman,
Perseus, $26, ISBN 0738204056
SAY you’re a government with a licence to print money, and someone invents
the colour photocopier. Do you outlaw the copier and seize all the paper stocks,
or change your printing technology so money can’t be copied? Now say that about
music, and you’re pretty close to the furore that has dominated the
entertainment industry for the past couple of years. The music industry’s
reaction to download services such as MP3.com and file-sharing services like
Napster has been to do both: sue the…
