“We named the company Netflix and not “DVD By Mail” for a reason, which is we plan to lead the downloading market and over time we will offer both DVDs by mail and downloading.”
At this point the music and film industry diverge. Because watching a film is a significant investment of time, the issue of ‘all you can eat ‘ downloads is not such a problem if people rip DVDs. As a result the DVD sales market is less than the rental market. You pay to see movies or they can be supported by commercials both within the movie (product placement) or as interruptions during it.
With music it is the other way around – you can listen to music for free (without commercial interruption during the song) but the sales of CD’s are a big market. So in this way it is hard to imagine the RIAA putting up all you can eat vs. Apple style ‘a la carte’ payment for individual songs.
Fool.com: Netflix Battles Pirates [Special] October 30, 2003