Lessig is More: the staying-power of his musical predictions

"There is no other policy issue that better teaches the lessons of this book than the battles around the sharing of music," states Lessig plainly in the Afterword of his Free Culture manifesto/book hybrid, but how well are his 2004 theories holding up four years later? Not only have some of his predictions come to fruition (keyboard-less Internet access and a profiliferation of wifi), but his advice on dealing the coming future is nearly as sound today as it was when his book was written. Piracy has changed a little bit, as BitTorrent and Rapidshare-style content storage websites have become the most common theft venues. On the other hand, many artists are allowing free usage of their music, either through free downloads, myspace streams, creative commons liscences, pay-what-you-want schemes, or other comparable techniques. What's interesting, is that music sharing seems to be slowing down as things like vinyl record sales are begginning to re-emerge from the annals of time. If a couple new ideas arise, and the general public realizes that outright theft isn't the end-all-be-all solution, we may see some progress in the recorded music industry. Compared to the pre-Napster era, worldwide music interest and dependancy has surely increased at least tenfold, so if these files can be properly commoditized, an impending seismic boom should re-establish one of America's greaest industries. In the coming years, music will be sold and distributed like water, but, unfortunately, that isn't as comforting a thought as it once was.