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attention: music downloading is the new "red menace"

Tower Records has declared bankruptcy:
Over forty years later stiff competition from retailers such as Wal-Mart, Virgin Megastores and Best Buy, coupled with high lease costs, drove it into heavy debt.
This was compounded by the growing problem of digital downloading and file copying which has been plaguing the music industry.
BBC article
It is difficult to muster sympathy when Tower, who has leased extensive floorspace in some of the most expensive cities in the world, trots out the Piracy bogeyman to blame. Instead, the whole record biz needs to look at a pricing restructure, roll-your-own album options. How cool would it be to have an iTunes kiosk in a record store that would burn a CD of the tunes you want, and spit out a customized cover? Instead we get DRM'd discs that will lock up our computers, and not allow us to listen to tracks in our own local MP3 libraries. The drop in sales is arguable according to some people, but even if it's true, is it any wonder that no-one's buying?
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