I haven't read it yet, but I like its optimistic thesis since I'm pretty sure my tastes in music, books, etc... don't always line up with the median buyer. Markets don't always cater only to the "lowest common demoninator" and, in a slightly conservative gesture, I'll argue that when they do it is often due to an artificial constraint on entry put in place by regulation. E.g., consider the quality of TV when we only had a few channels on the highly regulated and limited airwaves versus the current situation where there are fewer constraints on the number of channels and you can download TV shows or rent/buy them on DVD. On the other hand, as a socialogical observation, I think we'll all miss the highly quality "common experiences" in popular culture. Here's a revealing progression of exceedingly popular entertainment endevours: 1960s - the Beatles, 1970s - Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, Star Wars; 1980s - Michael Jackson, Miami Vice, 1990s - Whitney Houston, Seinfeld, 2000s - Survivor, American Idol. Kind of a sad new millenium, really. Indeed, with the exception of Seinfeld, it's been a while since popularity and quality have lined up all that well.