RIAA did not cause the rise of Piracy

Likely causes of the fall of the music.

The fall of the music industry might be due to the RIAA and their promotion of pop stars over rock bands. Probably not.  A bigger problem is that most mainstream musicians don't write their own music.  Why do acts such as Depeche Mode, NIN, Tom Petty, Metallica, U2, Madonna, Prince, etc stick around?  They write their own music.

I don't think piracy can be the true downfall of the music industry.  In almost every venue there is the 80/20 rule.  80% of downloads are done by 20% of the people.  20% of the people might affect a song or album billboard standing from 1st to 5th or 6th if they were only downloading the one album.  Likely they are affecting all billboard tracks the same.

DRM is not the problem with Amazon and iTunes.  It is the file quality.  Beatport, NIN official torrents and some other sources provide files that are high quality.  The same or better than a CD.  Audiophiles’ (who are likely the 20% that buy 80% of non-compressed music) buying habits have not really changed.

Piracy and legal downloads are not without their problems. 

First thing to consider is quality.  Sure an MP3 might be good enough for those iPod ear-buds in the gym.  These files are nowhere near good enough quality for a DJ.  A Lossless file that is of high enough quality for a DJ will be a larger file that is too big for many people.

Bandwidth is a problem with piracy as with paid downloads.  It can be a bigger problem for pirates because they likely are downloading more.  Without the bandwidth to download the highest quality lossless files a newer better version (like DVD -> Blu-Ray) will show up.

Also storage space tends to be an issue for pirates.  If you were to try to download every file available on just one piracy network or from The Pirate Bay you would quickly run out of space no matter how much hard drive space you have.  This also causes problems for people who get tons of iTunes gift cards.

Technology belongs to those smart enough to use it

Technology belongs to those smart enough to use it. Many different people try to use technology that is beyond them. If you don't have the mental capacity to use a certain technology don't use it. I am not likely to help you use it. I'll help you learn (Let Me Google That For You) to use it but will not help you use it. If you can't, or worse, won't use a technology properly i don't feel you should have it. I'm not saying only Mensa members should have technology. I feel you should find the technology that is right for your level. Don't ask me to program macros for your remotes - get a Harmony remote.

Many people feel they deserve technology. You need to find the technology that fits you. So how do you find the technology you want that you can handle. There are 3 ways to ways to find appropriate technology; advice from someone in the know, or trial and error, or enough research to know. Advise from someone in the know is often subjected to that individuals preferences. If your tastes are similar than this might be perfect. Learning enough to make a decision through research can be tedious as those who don't know often don't know what they need to know.

If you are down to trial and error don't give up. Find a store that will let you compare products first hand. Find people that have some of the devices in question to try. I wish there were other things i could say about trial and error. It comes down to you have to get your hands on some devices to try them out. Don't settle and get something you can't figure out how to use. If you do, don't be surprised if your technolegit friends and family won't help you out. Technology belongs to those smarty enough to use it.