M*A*S*H fans may remember the episode where Major Burns, frustrated at the low turnout for his morning calisthenics, whines, "But Colonel Potter, we'd get so many more if you'd just order them to volunteer."
For years, the entertainment industry has been promoting its own version of morning calisthenics to our college and university campuses, so-called commercial music services such as CDigix, Ruckus, and Napster. And the results have been similar: Even when offered for free, students stayed away in droves. The selection of songs was too small or the music couldn't be downloaded to iPods or the content couldn't be moved from device to device.
And so, following Major Burns' lead, Big Music and Big Hollywood have gone to Colonel Congress, and the Capitol Hill brass have delivered. Buried in the just-released Higher Education Act is a provision ordering every college and university in the country to "offer alternatives to illegal downloading". The inevitable result? Precious tuition and tax dollars diverted from academic needs to corporate vendors for the purchase of services that no one will use.
