Ownership of sound has come a long way, ever since it became possible to record it. With the MP3, Kazaa, and iTunes, people began hoarding music and asking their friends, "how many gigabytes of music do you have?" With Rhapsody and now Spotify—as well as We7 and Grooveshark—this entire competition to own the most or best disappears. You already "own" all the music. Downloading it almost seems like a waste of time. In Spotify, every song you ever wanted is available with a simple search and without a download.
Earlier this summer Pitchfork's Eric Harvey discussed the social history of the MP3 and the nature of collecting music. He supports his thoughts by talking to Evan Eisenberg about music as a thing.
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