the.com/digital downloads
you don't own it, you just rented the illusion of ownership forever.
means a copy of a file transferred from a server to your device, in exchange for money you paid to feel like an owner.
from the term hardened in the early 2000s as ipods and broadband made mp3s and pdfs tradeable goods, and itunes taught the world to pay per song instead of per album.
itunes launch2003, sold a million songs in a week
legal fictionyou buy a license, not the file
revocableplatforms can delete purchases remotely, and have
physical declinecd sales fell over 90 percent since 2000
for instance
itunes store — launched 2003, killed the cd single almost overnight
steam — pc gaming's download backbone since 2003, still dominant
kindle ebooks — amazon can remotely delete purchased copies, did so in 2009
bandcamp — lets artists sell downloads directly, keep most of the cut