But the alliance between Universal and Instant Live might change all that, for it gives a major label seal of approval to an industry still in its infancy. However, Universal’s blanket permission is only one cog in the copyright machinery, for there are still publishing rights to be taken into consideration as well as approval from the bands and artists themselves.

While some artists are sure to benefit by allowing their shows to be recorded and sold, others might nix the idea of one of their performances being available only minutes after the final curtain call, preferring instead to release live material only after it’s been edited and re-edited, mixed and re-mixed until the end product is as perfect as if it had come out of a studio.

Additionally, artists known for their “control freak” ways might not be too comfortable with having each show from a tour, good and bad, recorded for posterity.

Only three weeks after introducing the latest member of its iPod family to an adoring public, Apple is now responding to reports that the player’s screen isn’t, well, all that it’s cracked up to be.

Actually, “cracked” seems to be the key word here, for shortly after the iPod Nano hit stores, customers were complaining that the player’s screen cracked way too easily. One irate customer even created a Web site to document complaints, appropriately titled flawedmusicplayer.com .

But it looks as if Apple heard the complaints and has moved to resolve the problem. Claiming that the cracked screen issue was the result of a vendor quality problem and involved less than 1/10 of 1 percent of total Nano units shipped, an Apple spokesman said the company would replace any flawed units.