December 03, 2007

Currently digital music retailers don't seem to have figured out the value of giving their customers the opportunity to interact and form communities. Amazon users can submit reviews to its MP3 store or rattle off their favorite songs with its "Listmania!" function, but there’s no way for them to just talk to one another. There's no way for them to feel like their music expertise is making a difference -- and it goes without saying that customers can't meaningfully influence the store's inventory or how it's organized. No one on Oink would've stood for finding Pink Floyd's The Wall filed under "Dance & DJ," but it's the number two album in that category at Amazon.

"It's not how I consume music personally," she says. "But I also think that it's the way people like to listen to music and acquire music, so if I want to represent my artists I better try to embrace it." She also looks on the bright side. "There are positive things about it -- people can have more music during the day, you don't have to carry a bunch of CDs in your backpack. You carry more music with you so you can spend more time with music, and that's cool. But I'm too old school for that. If I have a record that someone has been like, 'Check this out,' and I like it, I'm gonna go buy it. It doesn't feel like I have it, to me, unless I have it."