DISQUS

Hey, nice, well thought out piece. But let me offer a quibble and a more substantive argument in opposition. First, the piece was an LA Times editorial, not an op-ed. The former are written by newspaper staffers, and they're an expression of the institution's views. The latter are just items picked for the Times' public bullentin board, as it were.

Second, you write, "Don't concentrate just on what sales come from experiencing music on the Internet. Consider what sales are being lost as a result." You're not suggesting that the labels can control sales by trying to reduce the supply of music online, are you? After a decade of trying in vain to do just that, isn't it time to recognize that it simply isn't possible? The point should be to extract as much money as possible from the consumption of music online, wherever it happens. That doesn't mean signing deals with everybody -- a valid business model should be a prerequisite, and it's clear that places like Muxtape and Mixwit don't qualify. But deep-sixing Project Playlist et al. won't boost CD sales, it will simply lead people to other sources of music online. If the point of stiffing Project Playlist is to drive folks to iMeem and Last.FM, well, OK. That makes some sense economically. But if the labels are simply trying to block aggregators of online MP3s from emerging, that's a lost cause.

Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times

Great mix!

Two points, in reverse order:
Two years = one Congress. This is about giving lawmakers time to adopt industry-wide rules, as opposed to singling out one network operator.
As for the distinction between AT&T;'s new TV service and the rest of its offerings, look at it from the standpoint of the consumer. If you're buying Internet access service, you're buying a pipe that doesn't prioritize -- it's the status quo ante merger. If you're buying AT&T;'s video service, you're getting something that plays by different rules, but that's what you expect. After all, this is EXACTLY what cable does. One wire carries prioritized traffic (video channels) and non-prioritized traffic (cable-modem data). The difference is the frequency at which the traffic is transmitted.