Dyson’s on Right Track in Napster Column

Esther Dyson’s article on Napster (“Napster Forcing Music Industry to Change Its Money-Making Tune,” Aug. 21) was the most succinct, insightful, on-target commentary I have read since the dawn of the eight-track tape.

After almost a decade of working in the recording industry, I voluntarily left it two years ago because of the very issues you raised. I had hoped--naively, to be sure--that the emergence of MP3 and digital transfer technology would somehow create a new mind-set among the record labels that have controlled popular music for far too long. But I was wrong.

So I joined the revolutionaries instead. Styles may change. Vinyl may come and go. But ultimately, the real source of musical inspiration does not come from any record company. It comes from the artists themselves.

The Internet offers a vehicle for listeners to get their music directly from the source, without the intrusive greed of labels (so much for “added value”). It’s a pure, beautiful concept. And by comparison, the previous record industry business model seems as outmoded and crude as a scuffed-up 78-rpm platter. Thanks for articulating this idea so well.

JON LEVY

Van Nuys

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Esther Dyson provided an insight not only into the music industry but to other industries and society as a whole.

We are in an age of individual control, although it may seem like the other way around with all the mergers and multinational conglomerates. They may achieve efficiency in pricing, but they are sacrificing choices for the consumer.

From this nearsighted corporate approach, I believe, will emerge companies dedicated to providing more variety, and from these new companies will emerge giants that will dwarf the current mainstays. And the way they will grow and survive is by allowing producers the most freedom and power in creating the product and allowing the end users the same freedom and power in making choices.

HIROMI OGAWA

Santa Ana Heights