Thrust of my 2040 comment was that the songs on Going Underground are deemed worthy of reissue, admittedly for benefit of our generation predominantly, but will there be demand for songs from last 2 years in 30 years time?

Going Underground was just a fresh example for sake of debate. Don't doubt other compilations of that ilk compare more favourably. I've got the Teenage Kicks one, and would agree. Maybe the fact that that came out, and another with same title, and Sound of the Suburbs, and now Going Underground reiterates my general point.

It would be interesting if all the punk/New Wave acts of the late seventies were just starting out now in the illegal digital downloads age. Would those acts be happy to loose so much money from record sales or would they have the attitude that music should be free and there are other ways for bands to make their money?

What is the attitude of, say, the NME towards illegal downloads ?. The glory days of the music business were in the nineties when new cd's and also cd replacements for vinyl albums accounted for record sales.

Indie bands in the nineties sold pretty well- most people then valued music enough to know that it takes money and effort to record albums- in the same way that it takes money to  make a movie. Certainly you could argue that cd's were overpriced, but not always. Think of all the technicians in a studio perhaps knowing that whatever music they are recording will be largely downloaded for free.

I doubt if the cd will be around for much longer- maybe ten years, then everyone will have computers or digital storage which as you say will be able to hold tens of thousands of songs. All this makes the future of the album as an artform in a bit of doubt. The album is usually some sort of artistic statement which needs to be taken as a whole, rather than divvied up into single tracks.

Live music seems to be about the only way to make money- but it must be hard for groups starting out. It would be interesting to read of new bands that have folded for lack of sales even though they may have some sort of live following. The economics of the music biz can be quite interesting. Just read a very good book about Warner Music Group and how they tried to deal with the illegal downloading situation over the last number of years. The deal they struck with YouTube means their acts get paid a pittance, but at least they get paid something. The Pirate Bay people in Stockholm had thousands of young, and not so young, out on the streets marching in defence of free downloads- before they were forced to close and pay up.

At the moment its like living in the musical version of the Wild West! Maybe the Pistols were singing about the music business when they sang about "no future".