A slightly less rosy view of Shirky's book can be found here:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=401300

Most seem to be missing the real motivation here. McGuinness is just another DRM snake oil salesman, and his rant here is merely an attempt to sell more "fail" to the record industry. From the full text of his speech:

http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=2196

"There is technology now, that the worldwide industry could adopt, which enables content owners to track every legitimate digital download transaction, wholesale and retail. This system is already in use here in Cannes by the MIDEM organisation and is called SIMRAN. Throughout this conference you will see contact details and information. I recommend you look at it. I should disclose that I’m one of their investors."

One gets the sense that Sesame Street has changed its target audience, and is now aimed at much younger children than when it originally debuted. You used to have characters to identify with who were like small children, Grover, Big Bird, they had to be taught things like crossing a street at a corner. Now you have Elmo, who is, essentially, a baby, and the show skews more towards that younger age group.

Daring Fireball pretty much nailed what's wrong with the Kindle:
http://daringfireball.net/2007/11/dum

Basically, he points out the difference between the Kindle and the iPod. You lay out the cash for an iPod and you can load all of your already owned music on the device. You can purchase new music from a wide variety of retailers. That same music (as long as you're smart enough to buy non-DRMed music) will play on any new device you buy in the future.

With the Kindle, you have to re-buy all the books you already own. You can only buy books from Amazon. If Amazon decides the Kindle isn't making money and drops the service, your device is worthless. Didn't we learn anything from the mlb.com debacle a few weeks ago?