CD sales peaked in 2000. Thereafter, cd sales began to decrease. First gradually, then rapidly. Today, very few cds are manufactured and sold. In fact, new cds never enter the second hand market. There is no first owner. For some morbid reason I follow the statistics from the Swedish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The revenues from CD sales in 2021 amounted to 3 percent of total revenues. In 2021, cd sales actually increased (but from a very low level). What about the future for our beloved cd? Maybe, it will come down to greed, exlusivity and vanity. A single cd, impossible to copy and sold to the highest bidder, like NFT? Non-fungible tokens (NFT), are unique files that live on a blockchain and are able to verify ownership of a work of digital art. The hype-driven and, to say the least, environmentally unfriendly technology have found its way into the music business. Could we merge the NFT and cd technology? NFTs cannot be replicated and are unique digital assets. CDs can be copied. The CCCD system, a copy prevention system, used from 2001 until 2006 on several digital audio disc releases by EMI and Sony failed. Copy controlled cds are both dumb and inefficient, just like the "Home Taping Is Killing Music" campaign in the beginning of the 1980s, read more here (opens in a new window). The CCCD technique had huge flaws. The cds didn't play on ordinary cd players. It also compromised the sound (popped and clicked). The copy protection increased errors and the jitter rate. The cds were defective and fraudulent. The copy-protection could easily be by-passed. Could it be done in a better way today? The technology has certainly changed in 20 years. Maybe, copy protection could be revived. He who dies alone surrounded with unique and verified tokens wins.    

Apple discontinues iPod Touch. This new, but not at all surprising, information was well hidden in flowery words from Greg Joswiak, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at Apple. "Today, the spirit of iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV... Customers can purchase iPod touch through apple.com, Apple Store locations, and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last." The news left me with a conundrum. Should I buy a "new" iPod or not? The seventh-generation iPod Touch was introduced in 2019 running iOS version 12.3. And because technology is moving rapidly, things become obsolete quickly. According to Apple, "products are considered obsolete when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than seven years ago." This means that Apple no longer offers any service or repairs for these products. Well, then I'm obsolete on the verge of obsolescence. My iPod Touch is third-generation. I bought it in 2009 and it still functions after carefree and careless handling. The iPod even survived an update of new software (iOS version 5.1.1.) a couple of years ago. One by one the apps have ceased to work. I couldn't care less. I'm only interested in the Itunes app, which is Apple's most hated app. To fully master the computer-device interaction a civil engineer degree is required. Many people think that iPod is unnecessary. Why would you want a device that plays music when you could have a device that plays music and is also, a phone? Well, the iPod is less expensive than the cheapest iPhone. Moreover, the cult followers like it because it isn't a phone, which ensures distraction-free listening. The iPod Touch is now officially discontinued. So, what is the right thing to do here? One option is to go down with the ship. Sooner or later, my iPod will refuse to transfer files, no longer play or the battery won't charge. When that happens is anyone's guess. Another option, is to future-proof oneself and buy a "new" seventh-generation iPod. Buying a device that has been discontinued at a high price doesn't seem like a good idea. The price of an iPod Touch with 32, 128 and 256 GB storage is 199, 299 and 399 dollars, respectively. Not exactly cheap. But, "while supplies last" usually means clearance sale. Discontinued products tend to fall in price. But, low price or lowering prices has never been a part of Apple’s pricing strategy. It relies on product differentiation and creating a demand for its products. Together with brand loyalty, this allows the Apple to have power over their pricing. Long may you run, iPod Touch third-generation 64 GB.    
 

"And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder / One of the four beasts saying, / 'Come and see.' and I saw, and behold a white horse". "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash makes numerous Biblical references. Especially to the Book of Revelation which is derived from Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The book is central in Christian eschatology and "the four horsemen" is a popular subject in art, film and music. According to the Book of Revelation (chapter 6:1–8) the four horsemen of the apocalypse appear with the opening of the first four of the seven seals that bring forth the cataclysm of the apocalypse. The first horseman, equipped with a bow and crown, rides a white horse, which symbolizes Christ or the Antichrist; the second horseman is given a great sword and rides a red horse, symbolizing war; the third carries a balance scale, rides a black horse, and symbolizes famine; and the fourth horseman rides a pale horse and is identified as Death. The main distinguishing feature of the four horses is their colour; white for conquest, red for war, black for famine, and pale for death. The four horsemen are armed with different attributes; conquest with a bow, war with a sword and famine with a balance scale. The fourth horseman, symbolizing death, doesn't have any attribute. The woodcut by Albrecht Dürer was made as one of a series of fifteen illustrations for a 1498 edition of the Apocalypse. In 1511, the plates were republished. The pale rider in the woodcut carries a sort of pitchfork or trident, despite the fact that he’s given no weapon in the Book of Revelation; he simply unleashes hell. The illustrations are very detailed. The colours of the horses are achieved by very distinctly drawing their various weapons and by placing them in order from background to foreground, slightly overlapping, so that they ride across the composition in the same order as they appear in the Book of Revelation. This places Death, a skeletal figure on a skeletal horse, in the foreground. "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts / And I looked, and behold a pale horse / And his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him".   
 

Spotify made a small profit in 2021. Unbelievable. Anti-vaccinationism made it possible. In Q1 2022, we are back to the old normal again. Normal means losses. The web market analysts are so co-dependent that they don't even notice the loss, let alone reporting about it. Clearly, they don't know what is up and what is down in the income statement and balance sheet. They simply swallow the press release with lock, stock and barrel. "Nearly all of our key metrics surpassed guidance". Read carefully - "nearly all". Operating loss in Q1 2022 amounted to €6m ($6,2m). The Q1 press release focus on a "healthy revenue growth". This sounds good, but when revenues increase, so do costs. The accumulated deficit at the end of 2021 amounted to €3 220m ($3 689m). In any other business the top management would be whipped, keelhauled and then forced to walk the plank. The conversion strategy (by providing freemium, users will upgrade to premium) is not doing what it's supposed to. The share of paying users has never surpassed 50 percent. According to the Q1 report 2022 the company has about 182 million paying (premium) users (of a total of 422 million users), which makes 43 percent. The premium share has actually decreased in the last couple of years. Again, the analysts don't pay any attention to actual fundamentals. The Spotify Communication Departement are desperately trying to distract attention from the real problem. They have so much to answer for: anti-vaccinationism and conspiracy theories, fake streams and fake artists, secret deals, threatening free and independent research, playlist manipulations, pretending to be a value-driven employer etcetera. It takes a certain kind of scrupulousness to work for Spotify. Avoiding the subject is one thing, denial is another, but Spotify has taken euphemism to another level. The Q1 2022 press release is unintentionally ironic: "Overall, we are very pleased with the performance of the business and remain highly encouraged by the traction we are seeing." The co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek wants you to know that he believes in his life's work. He wrote on Twitter: "I’ve always been vocal about my strong belief in Spotify and what we are building. So I am putting that belief into action this week by investing $50M in $SPOT. I believe our best days are ahead..." With €3 220m ($3 689m) in accumulated deficit, this is a bold statement. The business share price have dropped with over 50 percent since the end of last year. Dream on.   
 

Some memories are so embarrassing that you want to bury them and bury them deep, never to be found. One embarrassing moment is the Rigello rip-off on Walpurgis Night in 1978 (or was it 1979?). Walpurgis Night is the night of April 30th, an old pagan rite which has become Christianized. In older German folklore this is believed to be the night of a witches' meeting in the Harz Mountains, a mountain range in central Germany. Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed throughout Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Estonia. In Sweden we light bonfires to scare off witches. April 30th marks the last the day of winter and the first day of spring. It's also a good excuse to get totally wasted. It was a part of our learning curve. When you are 16 years old and live in a small town this required a plan. We were far too young to buy alcohol ourselves. You could ask an older liberal sibling if you had one. A last option was to ask one of the two notorious town drunks. You waited for them outside Systembolaget (liquor store monopoly). Sooner or later they showed up. For a small percentage they were happy to be at service. The two town drunks had hearing problems and a short attention span. They were sometimes mildly intoxicated which added to the difficulty level. You had to shout out your order. Then repeat it a couple of times. By the nature of things the order couldn't be too comprehensive or complicated. The town drunks handed over the alcohol around the corner out of sight from the store (they were town drunks, not village idiots). This procedure was embarrassing, humiliating and risky. You could get exposed in the small town where everybody knew everybody.         

One of the guys in our loosely knit group of friends came up with a solution. His old man could supply the beverages for this occasion. His parents were divorced and I think the grand gesture was an example of misguided benevolence. No downsides, only upsides. No risk exposure, just-in-time delivery and no need to hide the alcohol under an uprooted tree in the forest until later (it was too risky to bring it home). For some inexplicable reason we had all agreed upon that we should attend the Walpurgis celebrations in the nearby sleepy locality (3 200 inhabitants). In hindsight, you can wonder why. We met at the bonfire area with great expectations. Our guy showed up with a strained facial expression. He had bad news. We had paid for cans (45 cl, aproximately 15 oz). We got bottles (33 cl, aproximately 11 oz) instead. And it was so called Rigello plastic bottles. Rigello was as an alternative to existing metal and glass beverage containers launched by packaging giant Tetra Pak. The small plastic bottle had a printed paper sleeve, and its low weight and price made it an economical choice for carbonated beverages. It was supposedly an environmentally friendly biodegradable bottle. You could throw it away in the nature while knowing you were creating fertile mulch. Later, it turned out that the plastic bottles weren’t biodegradable. They can still be found here and there. The can and bottle confusion led to discontent and dispute. The excuses were lame and varied from a mistake to parental second thoughts about the purchased quantity. In either case, we didn't get the difference back. Not explicitly expressed, but understood, was that we had been ripped off. The whole situation was embarrassing for all concerned. 

I don't remember who was responsible for the choice of place and the grounds for it, but clearly a terrible mistake had been made. This was a family-friendly evening by a lake with bonfire, choir, bun sale and lottery. "Maybe the families will go home and the real party will begin", said one of the guys. He was an optimist by nature. Hour after hour went by. We drank our beer and the alcohol began to kick in. It was a disaster, no matter of how you looked at it. We wobbled around and bellowed without aim and purpose. We probably scared off some families in advance. The harsh truth became abundantly clear as we began to sober up. This is as good as it gets. We stood there, while the bonfire burned down to glowing coals. Nobody said anything, but I think we all agreed. We must never ever speak of this again.