Holding its own or delaying the trip to the abyss ?

I subscribe to Napster, and would rather pay $10 a month to listen to subscription music and 99 cents if I really like the song, that way I can burn a CD with 15 of my favorites for the same price as some one-hit wonder's album. I'm still putting back in the industry, but taking only what I want. I think it's a good trade off and I don't have to worry about the P2P police coming after me.

I think RealNetworks' Rhapsody will be the first to go, even though they have the most subscribers and are backed by Best Buy. The program has gone through a horrible shift with its newer version and chaotic DRM scheme. It's turned off a lot of long time subscribers to that service, including myself.

Of course, if Apple wanted to risk a portion of their pocket fattening model, they would include DRM protected subscription music, and with the amount of iPods in the market, they would easily crush the other stores without lifting a finger.