Ben Ratliff in todays NY Times seems genuinly perplexed about YouTube and it's impact on the world. In today's article he writes a glowing music lovers profile of the start up video sharing service. And of course he's right. Having amazing old video like funkadelic pulled from the dust bin's of history - and brought back into public view is a good thing. But then - ah ha - he talking to creative folks and copyright owners. And they tell a story of trying without success to keep control of their work in this new era. This is a place where Ratliff would have done well to talk to Larry Lessig. Creative Commons has been saying for some time, the real issue has to do with view of property rights that doesn't mesh with the evolution of ideas. And YouTube sits squarely in the center of that.

So this conversation is just beginning. The uptake numbers on YouTube (which launched in December) are in and of themselves quite remarkable.