There are conflicting views on this subject. On the one hand, consumers want flexibility in playing their music, on the other, music companies and musicians want -- quite legitmately -- to protect their copyrights.
On a recent discussion on recs.art.tv, many people thought quite passionately that performed music was somehow in the public domain and listeners had an unlimited moral "right" to download whatever and whenever they wanted, and to share it at any time. This of course is nonsense. The US Constitution clearly provides for copyright and patent protection of creative works.
With digital media, it's real easy to make perfect bootleg copies and widely distribute them. That's simply not fair to the music business or musicians. (Whether we like or dislike the music business is totally irrelevent.)
On the other hand, if someone goes out and properly buys some music, regardless of the medium (78 or iPod), they ought to have some reasonably usage on multiple players, just as they do with computer software. If I buy a computer program, I can put it on as many machines as I want (home, office, car, etc.) as long as it's single usage. So, if I buy some music, I should be allowed to freely duplicate it as I see fit for my tape player, for example.
I'm not happy that the electronics industry keeps introducing new stuff so fast that other stuff is quickly obsolete. I have a nice collection of cassette tapes I want to keep. I even have plenty of phono records I want to keep. Many people have lots of 78s.
But at the same time, consumers have this addiction to rush out and buy the latest fad. People actually camp out overnight at electronics stores for the newest release of something! (Don't these people have lives???)
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