Renting Music

So, of course, downloading music has been a hot topic for years now....ever since my first year of college when Napster came out and everyone started downloading illegally. Then all hell broke loose and the RIAA started complaining about artists losing money and the feds started arresting little kids.

So now, we live in a world transformed by iPods and iTunes. (Which actually has supplanted Media Player on my computer as my primary media player app....not bad for a dedicated Microsoftie like myself.) But this last week Yahoo! introduced its Music Unlimited program where you can download as much music as you want* (note asterisk) for only $4.99 a month if you pre-pay for a year ($59.88). Anyway, this unlimited* (again, note asterisk) download is actually a over-glorified rental service where you can download any of these songs to your computer or portable device for a period of time. If you actually want to own the song, you have to pay $0.79/song to buy it. Still better than $0.99/song that iTunes charges, but only if you actually enjoy renting songs.

I'm posting about this because I just can't understand the fascination with renting songs like this. I don't have a problem with paying for songs as long as I can own them...but i don't get the renting thing.

Music isnt like movies where you only want to watch it once because you know what happens in the end or you're sick of laughing at the same punchlines. Music is emotional and instills a feeling in you each time you hear a song. I dont know how many times I have found a song in my library that i havent listened to in years like The Verve Pipe's The Freshmen or Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight and immediately been transported back to the first time I heard the song or some memorable experience while the song was on. Without having that song in my collection, I would never hear those songs on Internet Radio, much less traditional FM Radio.

Maybe it's because with today's music we are overrun with drippy teeny-bopper lyrics that actually contain no substance, so there is no need to listen to the song again after the initial period of infatuation with a hypnotic drum beat and unintelligible moaning (compare Britney Spears with Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, and Coldplay).

So, what do you think? Will renting music catch on? Can someone explain to me how it actually works/expires after a given time? Would you rent music like this?

Jorin