If the past decades taught us anything, it’s that technical ingenuity will always outpace legacy business models — and the social response will be messy, iterative, and human. The challenge for everyone involved is to channel that ingenuity toward systems that preserve creators’ livelihoods while recognizing viewers’ legitimate needs for flexibility and fairness. Until then, the M3U playlist will remain a small, potent symbol of a much larger cultural tug-of-war.