"[National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers president Jim] Donio cited statistics about piracy, pointing out that 42% of all music acquisition is paid, and that despite a recent rebound in the first quarter of this year, CD sales continue to drop. He then suggested that a new version of 'CD 2.0,' a sort of hybrid compact disc, might be a solution." Unfortunately, the
Billboard piece that mentions this bit of nomenclature doesn't really get into what "CD 2.0" will consist of. Perhaps it means that it'll be more advanced than the DualDisc, which was apparently version 1.92 of the CD? Maybe they'll all be bundled with a social-networking component! Please, Jim Donio, tell me what you actually
mean by using the oh-so-tired "2.0" appellation, and note: any answer that uses the phrases "Web 2.0" or "well, we were thinking of putting a screen saver and maybe some mobile wallpapers on the disc" automatically gets a big honking
BZZZZT. [
Billboard]
Idolator
From the "statements that I pretty much agree with 100% file, so there's not much else to add to them" file comes Ryan Catbird's rumination on the "all music should be free" model: "I still think the more important question is: 'What if an artist that hasn't already built a career on the label system released their work directly, gave it away for free, retained their rights, etc. Would it matter?' The answer, sadly, to that one is "no, it doesn't matter." Myriad small unheard-of bands are out there posting their albums for free every day, but there's still no good way for them to get heard. For all the chatter about how new technology/Music 2.0/viral marketing etc. has the power to 'break' new artists, there are precious few examples of this actually occurring." A related thought that's probably 
