The Liberal Order

A Creative Tribute to John Williams

HT: Greg

Those Who Share Music Spend More On Music

I've always argued that the RIAA is misguided in their pursuit of those who share music. Why sue your best customers and potential customers?

It seems that those who download music illegally also spend more on music and movies than those who are indifferent to music and movies.

Creative Destruction In the Music Industry

Earning economic profits in the long run requires constant innovation to ward off competitors for your profit. There is a new entrant in the online music business that just may make Apple's iTunes obsolete.

The app allows users to buy the right to stream songs from a digital locker forever for just 10 cents each. The song quality is lower than what Apple Inc.'s iTunes offers, but "intelligent caching" lets the tracks load and play in seconds, with playback possible even outside of cell phone coverage.

An existing iTunes library can be synchronized with one's Lala account, meaning a person doesn't have to repurchase songs to listen to them within the app.

Quality will indeed have to improve to have a large impact, but at about one-tenth the cost of an MP3 from iTunes, Lala is likely to be a formidable competitor to Apple's dominance in this market.

Conceptions of Justice and the Limits of Reasonable Pluralism

That, I think, is part of the nature of beliefs about justice—they are absolute, bright edged, in a way in which preferences are not. The point is summed up in the Latin phrase Fiat justicia, ruat coelum—let justice be done though the sky falls.

Those whose bumper stickers read "If you want peace, work for justice" simply take it for granted that there is no question what is just; if you want to find out, just ask them. The problem with the world as they see it is merely that other people are insufficiently virtuous to act accordingly.

Wise words from David D. Friedman.

I Made It Through the Pain

Talk about the epitome of disrespect, Barry Manilow gets a dose of it.

A group of several dozen young people regularly spread rubbish, spray graffiti, get intoxicated, use drugs, swear and intimidate patrons at the outdoor mall, he said.

The city council, police and local property owners covering 410 businesses agree that "nice, easy listening" music like Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You," "Mandy" and other hits might change the behavior of loitering teens.