The Change Mariner

New Distribution Structure of Music: The Internet

CNet News.com

In a rush to market worthy of the dot-com bubble's headiest days, a stampede of companies is following Apple Computer pell-mell into the online music sales business.
Napster's new owner, Roxio, is scheduled to launch a legal version of the service by Christmas. Musicmatch said Monday that it will soon sell songs through its jukebox application. RealNetworks, America Online, Amazon.com and potentially even Microsoft are planning to sell digital downloads.

For consumers torn for years between downloading music illegally through file-swapping services or signing up for complicated monthly subscription services, the impending flood of available music may be little short of overwhelming. And having hundreds of thousands of songs a mouse-click away from listeners could dramatically change the distribution and consumption