When physical hinders digital
July 23rd, 2009 § 1 Comment
To follow up on my previous post Whose Culture?, I came across this insightful little rant by Kirk McMurray on smart.fm’s [devlunch]. Kirk makes a point here that clearly states why we struggle to find new business models in the face of information wanting to be free to roam the ether. Here’s how I’d paraphrase it: We’re limited by the familiar metaphors of physical commerce when we try to conceive new business models for digital content. Watch Kirk state his take on the Free debate here:
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFIQRcDZMoo]
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If I could digitize a bicycle and make a copy for my friend, it’d be different than if I steal a bike and give it to my friend. This has been an argument used in favor of copying music files.