"Add the user-friendly interface that Apple is good at, and you've got a service that I'm sure many people will indeed pay for."
you guys really have to do what zeev did: ask your kids, or - failing that - check the discussions on slashdot.org. yes, separating out individual songs is important to buyers. but the key point that you're all missing is that all of these services will also take extraoardinary means to prevent you from sharing the digital music with others - as silly as that is. (silly, because *someone* will always rip it, even if they have to siphon off the audio to do it.) the rights management software, in general, means you can do LESS with this music (you're resticted to where you can use it) and will prevent even the kinds of sharing that you're currently allowed to do with cd's (i.e. like lend it to a friend).
what's missing from the music industry is market forces: the price of any *particular* cd or song by band X is pretty much unrelated to the cost of producing and marketing that cd or song, or to the market demand for it.
