stevens seems to be saying that we should not take the internet at face value as always good for artists or the music they produce (by questioning such issues like the immediacy and capacity for which we can acquire music, the limitations of pure open access, and the lack of intimacy generated online). while posting such reservations ON a website will predictably result in heated attacks, i think his thoughts are genuine (not made for PR or out of elitism) and are issues worth the attention. the irony is we can only call him pompous because his comments were immediately posted online.