patrick reports that sony and avex are giving up on copy protected cds:

Sony and Avex, the two main large companies releasing copy protected CDs in Japan, have both decided to stop the Red Book tempering. Avex clearly says that it has to do with the popularity of the iPod and similar devices.

Avex' new tactic to keep sales high will be to sell hybrid CD/SuperAudio CD (offering superior audio quality to those with a SACD player), and hybrid DVD audio/video (offering 5.1 audio plus bonus video), in effect from September.
Sony simply goes back to the good old compact disk that we love, fully in effect from November 17.
Hopefully all the others worldwide (not too sure what's happening in other countries) will follow their steps.

definately good news, hopefully the rest of the world will follow suit and end this stupidity.

the l.a. weekly has an article on the three myths of the recording industry(via j-walk):

MYTH NO. 1: The prevalence of file-trading services and free music on the Internet indicates that recorded music may no longer be an economically viable business.

MYTH NO. 2: Record sales are down. The situation is only growing worse.

MYTH NO. 3: Musicians no longer need the record industry. The Internet and other new technologies make this a new era of “do it yourself.”

the first two make sense, but the last one seems rather off. there are definately problems with marketing music by yourself, but that hardly means you shouldn't do it. some of the most interesting music is created by fringe artists laboring in obscurity. just because a release has a limited audience doesn't mean it shouldn't be available.