OTHER TECH

Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick

BIO: Drummer (top left) for the venerable American rock institution who continue to rock hard on indie-released Rockford (Cheap Trick Unlimited/Big 3).

GIMME 5 OR 10: The CD will be gone in 5 or 10 years. It's kinda going the way of the 78 or the 8-track. Personally, well, you're gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming into the future. I'm at the age where I'm not going to do another format change. If it's going to be digital, I'm going to dump my round discs onto the computer. That's about as far as I want to go. A lot of buyers like me remember records, and we don't want to change over again.

ACCESS ALL AREAS: Imagine some guy living in North Dakota who has to go to a Wal-Mart to get his music. His access is somewhat restricted, so any way he can get music delivered to him is good - but I don't know how great downloading necessarily is for the artist. Right now, the big labels are hemorrhaging money, losing market share, and cannibalizing their own business. They're so screwed up that they're chewing their own foot off to make a buck, and they really haven't figured out the downloading model yet.

The coolest thing about downloads? You don't have to worry about shelf space.

Joe Elliot of Def Leppard

BIO: Singer for the British pop/rock/metal kings, who've stacked covers of 14 of their favorite songs of their youth on Yeah! (Bludgeon Riffola/Island).

NEW SINGLES: If someone decides to buy the single or a track off our new album from iTunes or wherever, to me it's just a digital version of going into a record store and buying a 7-inch single. I don't really take issue with that. If they're buying the single, they're buying into the myth of the song and not into the band. I understand and get that people may love "Pour Some Sugar on Me" but not really dig us. Like I bought Jo Jo Gunne's "Run, Run, Run" when I was 12 - it's the only song I ever heard of theirs. I don't know if they're a good band or a bad band. But I have fond memories of them by the fact that I haven't "tainted" them. I haven't heard a second song of theirs that I've thought was awful.

SLICE OF LIFE: I don't really have a problem with the download thing. It's like buying one slice of bread instead of an entire loaf. If that's all you want, you should be able to buy it.

VANISHING ACT: Hey, listen: Vinyl's almost disappeared. 78s disappeared. I'm not a soothsayer, and I can't say if people are going to give up on the physical side of intellectual property. But we may be a dying breed, us fortysomethings who still crave the idea of physically holding something while we listen to it. Somebody under 25, maybe they genuinely just don't care. They never had it in the first place to miss it. Read the extended interview with Joe Elliot

Celeste Lear

BIO: Up-and-comer with a hi-fi heritage (her grandfather William Lear invented the 8-track - and a little thing called the Lear Jet) merges rock and electronica on The Echo Inside (Boutique Electronique).

SHARE NOT: Digital delivery is the future, it's here, and musicians and industry folks are scrambling to understand how it's working, how to get on board, and how to keep it lucrative. I have mixed feelings about file-sharing. So many people are unaware of how very important it is to financially support their favorite artists. I really frown upon downloading music for free. People should just go to iTunes and pay the 99¢ per track. I think all of the downloading sites should maintain a rule of 99¢ per song. So much time, devotion, and money go into making an amazing album.

IN & OUT OF STYLE: CDs may be going out of style because it's easier to buy online than make a trip to the record store. And some people want the option to buy a song or two off an album instead of the whole thing. That's bringing the single back like we had in the '50s and '60s.

Visit Celeste on MySpace (myspace.com/celestelear) and celestelear.com. And read the extended interview with Celeste Lear

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