I'm hooked on my new iPod (video). I've never purchased a CD on my own before. After I got my iPod, I've purchased music and videos from iTunes. This is a good example of how the overall market for music and old video content just increased. The pie just got bigger. iTunes has solved some of the problems with illegal music. They've succeeded with micro-transactions. It's easier to pay a small fee than to search for the content through file-sharing software. I save time and I avoid the risk of getting viruses and/or bad content. iTunes is a winner.

On another note, I just finished listening to the audiobook Freakonomics. The book should be required reading for all economics students.. Correction.. It should be required reading for everybody. It provides a down-to-earth perspective on practical use of advanced economic methods. An example. The sharp decrease in the crimerate in New York during the early 1990's was in large part a result of the legalization of abortion in 1973! The logic is simple. Kids that previously grew up in troubled homes with a high likelyhood of becoming criminals no longer grew up, because their mothers had an abortion. The book presents interesting examples on simple economic principles.