Did the terrorists win?

I'm in my second day at the NSA conference and everything has been great. In addition to making a lot of new contacts, I've learned a lot about the speaking business and about methods for developing new content in an ever-developing digital world. We had a speaker talk today who mentioned something interesting, something worth thinking about, and it boils down to this:

Does a record company sell music, or does it sell the record? Are record companies selling the music created by artists, or are they simply using the music in order to sell a piece of circular vinyl? It's a tough call, considering the cost of media like records, audio cassettes and CD's typically determines the price of the product, and the artists themselves receive so little in royalties. Look at Tool's newest album, the very CONTENT of the CD and the way it's packaged. Maynard James Keenan even told his record company, "Look, you're getting your money back on our tour, anyway. Let us package the CD the way we want." In a way, this is a good jump into the digital world, where record companies are going to be forced to sell CONTENT, not material products.

One more thing: while running through the Denver airport on Friday, I stood on the second level and looked down at the security screening going on below, where crowds of people were slowly filing through metal detectors, etc., before making their ways to the terminals. At Milwaukee's airport, I even had to take my shoes off and the ban on liquids was still in effect.

Did the terrorists on 9/11 win? Was their aim to destroy America, or simply make our lives more difficult? To live in constant fear of that which remains nameless, impossible to find?