At last, here is someone with the courage to claim that compact discs are superior in almost every way to music downloaded from the internet. And who is this paragon of musical sagacity? No less a pundit than Jupiter Research analyst Mark Mulligan.

In a report* that offers thought-provoking reading for those hoping to make their fortune from content and/or services delivered online - in Europe, at any rate - he opines: "The CD is a simpler way to buy and consume music than paid downloads," and goes on to point out that the quality of downloaded music is inferior to that from CDs and that the shiny plastic discs are more durable, easier to back up, more compatible and less encumbered by hard-to-understand DRM (digital rights management software - necessary to prevent piracy and unlimited copying).