Is technology killing the art of music fandom?

A familiar lament, no? Seems us kids are more interested in getting our music for free than having a collection, more bothered about having all our sounds in one place - on our iPods, on our hard drives - than thumbing through CDs in record stores for hours on end, simply wallowing in the joy of being a muso.

Format change has long been an issue in music, and each time the mainstream shifts to accept a new format, the industry and the fans who embrace the change are accused of selling out, and the word 'authenticity' becomes over-used by analysts and fanboy Nazi-types the world over. The difference now, of course, is the migration of music from a physical artefact, namely the compact disc, to a file on a computer.

The imposition of technological advancements of music inevitably raises these concerns but time after time music fandom prevails. The first recordings didn't kill music. Vinyl didn't kill it, cassettes didn't kill it, even home taping didn't kill it. Neither did the CD, and neither will MP3.

My own taste in music means that I have a vested interest in tech's involvement in art, for without tech there would be no electric guitars or microphones, and certainly no Nine Inch Nails. The point here is that music relies on technology. And while fans constantly quake at the thought of authenticity dusting itself off and leaving the building, it doesn't happen. Tech creates new authenticities through originality and innovation, themselves surely facets of the very notion of 'authentic'.

So what of MP3? It's great to have the choice, of that there is no doubt. Its ability to put our music collections in our pockets (Apple's words, not mine) is stunningly convenient, and I for one go nowhere sans earphones. But I firmly believe that while convenience is becoming the order of the day, some sort of physical artefact will always remain. iTunes will not rule the world, and whether albums in the future are sold on disc, chip, coin - whatever - some physicality will remain. Music fans will make sure of it, because despite the wonders of tech, we still go out and buy the stuff and, as we all know, sales make the world go round.