DISQUS

I find the downside not so bad. Compared to the upside at least. Last.fm is a music hub and providing such a service is surely a big step. They didn't say anything about the labels' income percentage, but I like to be optimistic on that one.
Downloads would be great, I agree. Don't see it happening, though (unless last.fm prints its own money)

I actually find the crowdsourcing idea a great thing. It relies on the wisdom of the crowd. It's not about individual answers, it's about the collective intelligence. It is also a great deal of work; a work that Pro-Ams could do very well. A similar project of crowdsourcing and tagging was realized by the Metropolitan Museum.
If the collective tags are aggregated correctly, they could provide quality information, competing the data experts could provide.

there was a similar story about a month ago with torrentspy. In the end the court pressed torrentspy to provide ip adresses of its users. I wonder where this story will go...

Do you think its the 2$ that would make the difference? I find the Radiohead tactic also good. There is the online version (choose your price) and the offline version, the physical product.

I don't see original cds as blank cds with music on them.
Original cds are for me irreplaceable: the procedure of listening to the cd, while having the box in your hand, reading the leaflet, looking at the artwork. I like that...

I wouldn't call it a dumb idea. Reznor also talks about the physical product.
I don't know about you, but I would gladly pay a 5$ tax to get original cds, instead of just the digital versions.
I agree though, that not everyone should pay this fee - online people who download.
In such a napster, count me in!

lets see where they settle...