being prompted to pay for a song whether it is mandatory or not would be annoying to be honest.

If someone reformats their machine the keys would be lost, but that’s not really a problem – when you re-download whatever files you want, you can simply tell it to mark them as paid already. It could (and likely would) be as simple as having a third option on the reminder – “Purchase”, “Later”, and “Already Purchased”. You would never require an intermediary (gatekeeper) to search your computer or verify the honesty of your choice. Remember, there’s never a penalty here for not paying, other than perhaps karma, or in your favorite band breaking up because nobody bothers to pay them.

No software would be required to make this system compatible with any sort of file transfer because it’s a “dumb” system, and fully backwards compatible. It is completely neutral to how you use the files or whether you pay for them.

In the end, all I’m really proposing here is that we accept that people will share files, and that people do want to pay for them. The system I describe is to simply attach some simple payment information to each file so you know who to pay and how, and a method of recording what you’ve paid for, for nothing but your own edification.

screamingdefiance is correct in saying that this attempts to address the core problem – that people will always share files, that we have no non-tyrannical or despotic method to ensure people do not share files, and we cannot treat them like criminals for doing something that is inevitable.

The only recourse then is to accept file sharing and take steps to abate it’s negative impacts, the most primary being that there is no reasonable way to pay for the same files while maintaining their utility. This system provides a way to share files without being a criminal, and pay for them without reducing their utility or creating obstacles.

As for Brad’s comments, since this is expected to be direct “artist to consumer” transfer at its origin (consumer to consumer at it’s edges), it will be up to the artist to distribute the file in whatever original format they prefer, hopefully something lossless. The tags themselves would only care who the artist was, and what the song or movie or whatever was – it would be format neutral. If it says you paid for a file, it will understand that includes .mp3 or .flac or .wma or whatever format the file may be found in.

A store, as suggested, would in my imagining be an aggregator like PirateBay or something – the albums or movies are originally posted by the artist or production house, but aggregated at an external site also, and available from any source. We might even imagine using music player with a ’storefront’ (of course, store is a misnomer since you wouldn’t have to purchase anything immediately) that aggregates a wide variety of content, and a built in or external torrent component or program that acquires it for you – say, iTunes with torrents and no requirement to purchase.

I like your amendments, Bunkerstatements. Suggested prices are a good idea, and while I had imagined that the payment info would include their website or store’s address, I hadn’t made that explicit. And yes, the key is to make this a decentralized system that is implemented by the consumer’s own volition on their own machine that doesn’t require any central authority to approve or disprove any actions, only a standard protocol for communication and interpretation of the tags and files.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

To provide a system whereby consumers voluntarily pay for digital music is fitting of the unique circumstances of digital “ownership”. I offer two minor amendments: (1) that artist-suggested song prices are listed, and (2) that links to the artists’ webstores are provided so fans can purchase band merchandise and concert tickets from their media player.

The key is to DE-SYSTEMATIZE the system you provide to make it as free-flowing and consumer-oriented as possible.

Good thoughts!

If we were to ever get there, i sure hope they’d distribute the stuff in lossless files like FLAC.. Maybe have a few choices.. The thing is, the tags should be able to move from one format to another so if i convert the file to vorbis from flac for a portable player it will still have that buying info tag.

There should be a nice layout “store” so people can easily find and get the music. One that’s similar to iTunes and has a nice High Quality album art download for everyone to get. That way if people want the art embedded or not, they can choose.

Anyways, i really like this choice.. Jamendo is already somewhere around there; which is great, but they still haven’t reached lossless files on the site. Also, the sites not that great, and there’s no set standard for album art size and quality.

Hopefully more people will find this post..

What about when someone reformats their computer this info would be lost, therefore it would have to be a an account user name tolog in on a website where it could be stored but even that would have to search your computer for what you have to verify that you have paid for it to ensure these annoying pop ups do not keep coming up.

But some people have privacy issues with third party software searching for things on their computer.

What about if someone wants to move the music, movies and burn them to a cd/dvd or put it on their mobile phone or ipod or something, how would this system work there would have to be software on the equipment or cd/dvd.

Companies such as apple currently do not want people to be able to move their purchased music to another NON apple players hence people would LOSE all the music and videos they downloaded and paid for, its the same with all the manufacturers at the moment.