There’s nothing really new being said in this Washington Post article besides the fact that many of the “”legitimate”" music downloading sites (Rhapsody, Napster, iTunes) are finally achieving some degree of market penetration beyond that of typical technology first movers, and that such upward trends will continue steadily throughout the next couple of years.

So far, bulk-subscription or “”rental”" models like Rhapsody and “”Napster to Go”" have lagged behind iTunes’ pay-per-download model. But devotees say it offers an experience closer to that of the illegal services, in that users can download songs on a whim without adding to their bill. JupiterResearch predicted that the subscription market would eventually eclipse the market for a la carte songs.

Consumers may soon have a third option in the form of licensed file sharing. Using technology developed by Shawn Fanning, who created the original Napster in the late 1990s, several companies are planning to launch file-sharing services that let users swap songs with one another, just as they would if they were using one of the unlicensed services like Kazaa or eDonkey. The technology simply requires users to pay for the trades that were once free.

link: Read the entire article here…