Resistance is useless: the music will just not stop for labels

No more free music. No more free movies. Jettison any file-sharing software you might use and say goodbye to Bearshare, Limewire, Morpheus, iSwipe, Soulseek, Blubster - they are all destined to go the way of serial lawsuit loser Kazaa.

The pirates behind them should prepare to walk the plank before the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fires another broadside across their bows.

The future of music is legal, as evidenced by 'The Download': the International Consumer Electronics Show exhibiting heaps of 'cool and legal new ways for consumers to access music, movies and other content online'.

No longer, it seems, need file shoppers rely almost entirely on iTunes for legitimate fare.

The roll call of companies nobly offering squeaky-clean content provision is long, encompassing Akimbo Systems, Asoka USA, Audiocandy.com, BridgeCo, iMesh, Puretracks.com, RealNetworks, Samsung Telecommunications America, TotalVid and Wherever Media.

All this choice means that, in future, nobody from Lantau to Las Vegas will dream of illegal file-sharing. Everyone will be assimilated and resistance is useless: labels and musicians once cheated by grasping consumers can relax as the era of free content fades like the last bars of a golden oldie.