used mp3

Let’s say you can buy a new CD for $15 and sell it used for $5. And let’s say that you can buy that same CD in MP3 format for $10 but you can’t sell it used at all.

If you could sell an MP3 used, wouldn’t you be willing to pay more in the first place? Like, for example, $15?

What I’m thinking about is how much a secondary market for MP3s could do to grow recording industry revenues as a whole. It could be enough to have a substantal impact.

See also: insane-tastic startup with annoying name

See also: CNet story

2 thoughts on “used mp3

  1. It is a good idea, imagine buying an album and selling the tracks you don’t like.

    I have thought about this before, in fact I just opened up a whitepaper on the idea – tradeusedmusic.com (domain still free).

    You have a fundamental right of ownership of a possession, so in theory it should be able to be re-sold, traded, lent, or given away by its owner.

    However my idea was predicated on transcoding DRM formats going between different store formats, i.e, Real->WMA or Apple->WMA. This was a problem 3 years ago.

    The trend is to go DRM free however, and if you have no DRM then;

    a) what value is there in a digital file that can be copied? Is the value of the copy $0?

    b) how do you prove you have ownership of the mp3? if a copy is free, can I just sell lots of copies, creating an infinite supply and driving the price near to $0

    c) would people think a digital file is ‘used’, there is no wear and tear?

    I am sure the majors will stop this, they did it for CD’s before on many occasions – http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1993/08/08-25-93tdc/08-25-93darts-4.asp

Mentions

  • Lucas Gonze’ blog » Apple’s DRM puts network effects to work against it

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