We encountered a very interesting item in a Reuters report at Yahoo.com today. The article's main theme is about how few personal computers are being purchased for students returning to school this fall. Apple Computer for one isn't counting on any back-to-school sales boost. But can you guess which peripherals have taken the biggest hit in the wish-list department?

Only 2 percent of parents surveyed in one study said they planned to buy new computers for their teenaged children this fall. The students themselves seem satisfied with last year's models, and almost no one is excited. But last year there was one category of gadget that everyone had to have: mini-disks and MP3 players for music...

Well, now: With MP3 distribution becoming more complicated, sales of music CDs have dropped significantly and now the players and storage media are affected. Faster computers with bigger hard drives to manage all this become less important if copying is restricted or becomes more expensive. Who needs a digital lifestyle if you can't get the digits in the first place? Freedom may be messy at the edges but it provides the juice for things to take off in a big way. Music has the power to move people emotionally, too. Take away the passion and the ease of use and you kill a good thing. Does this take a genius to figure out?