Om Malik writes about what he sees as an inevitable collision of industry juggernauts, Microsoft vs. Apple, Gates vs. Jobs in a battle for downloadable music supremacy. But I’m confused by one of his comments:

The MTV’s Microsoft-powered Urge online music service will be selling to the ultimate demographic: the teen set.

I’m left wondering why he thinks teens are the ultimate demographic. You want guys like me in your demographic: guys from about 25 to maybe 45. Why? Because we are still young enough to be gadget conscious, but old enough to have disposable income. Trying to get money out of teens to young adults is essentially a zero sum game: they already spend all the money they have, so you have to make a product more compelling than any other product they are already spending money on. I suppose it is possible that URGE might be such an endeavor, but I doubt it, particularly when some kind of annoying DRM is going to be part of every Microsoft solution.