Don Tapscott writes, "In a restructured Internet-friendly music industry, consumers would no longer download songs at a fixed price per tune, but would instead pay a moderate amount each month to listen to an unlimited number of tunes streamed to them over the Internet. I'd happily pay a few dollars per month to get access anytime, on any device, anywhere, to any music ever recorded." Read more in It's time to treat music as a service rather than a good.

Should you rent or buy music? Hmmm, should you rent or buy software? For that matter, maybe we'd be happier renting hardware too. I plan to buy the new Apple phone but I bet I'd be happier if I could rent one for a year and then exchange it for (what you know will be) a better version the next year.

We've talked for years about "metered" software--you know, pay by the transaction. Except there's a natural affinity to owning rather than renting (or leasing), or perhaps it's a belief that the manufacturer can rack up your rates at any time, or maybe just the fear that you don't know how many transactions you'll use but it's probably a lot. Remember that first mobile phone payment? It surely wasn't the $65 I was expecting!!

If you're in hardware or software, before you offer a product with the typical up-front purchase price, maybe renting or leasing (or SaaS) is a better fit for the buyer and better cash flow for the vendor.