Once again, Apple's iPod is expected to be the hottest gift of the holiday season. That should be great news for the recording industry, right? After all, many of the 10 million or so new iPod owners surely will rush to Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL ) iTunes Music Store to load up on songs.

I think Apple has done far more than anyone else in the last few years to make the whole "content valuation" issue more confused. Not only do I have to pay $0.99 for a track no matter whether I listen to it once or every day but I have to pay $0.99 for it no matter if it was recorded in 1955 or 2005.

Everyone's asking the wrong question: "how can we force people to pay for music?" having missed the bigger, fundamental question: "what's a sensible system for valuing music?"