Halfway to Everywhere: 10 Days to buy post-Garcia live shows

Just received the following e-mail and I must say I'm curious as to why post-Garcia Dead shows are no longer going to be sold. The band's foresight to allow free trading amongst fans went a long way to solidfying their legacy, becoming the architects of the jam band scene, and spurring a traveling community of fans-The Deadheads. Of course I imagine free trading will still be allowed.
What I'm failing to grasp is why this decision is being made after the recent ruckus concerning the archive.org website. Just a few months ago, perhaps half a year, the decision was made to remove all live Dead material from the archive. Of course there was quite an uproar, and a fellow worker, a Deadhead that I had told about the archive (unknowingly the shows had just been pulled that week), scanned a copy of the story from the Richmond newspaper.
After the fans had their say, the decision was made to allow Archive.org to host the concerts, however the soundboard recordings could no longer be downloaded, only streamed. And yes, the epic Cornell '77 is still available at the archive as well as much of the May '77 shows.
Here's the story at Livemusicblog.com.
Though the first line says "The Dead has decided to close shop" I'm not pointing fingers at Lesh and Co. just yet, or even their management. Looks like we'll have to wait and see.

I've copied the e-mail I received just today:

	Final sale of The Dead recordings

Dear customer,

The Dead has decided to close shop. While some of the older Grateful Dead recordings will still be marketed under an arrangement the band has made with Warner Brothers, the band's post-Garcia touring organization will be shut down. This also means that all sales of The Dead's "Official Concert Recording Series" - the live recordings from The Dead's 2003 and 2004 tours - will come to an end.

So, between NOW and August 18th is the last chance to get your hands on any of the 66 live recordings from The Dead's 2003 and 2004 tours, as well as the two 2003 New Years Eve shows from Mountain View, CA, and the 2/9/04 Winter Jam show at the Warfield, in San Francisco. After August 18th, the "Official Concert Recording Series" website will shut down, and none of these recordings will be available for sale anymore !

There were innumerable highlights during the 2003 and 2004 tours, including the 5-night runs at Red Rocks in Colorado; guest performances by Steve Winwood, Willie Nelson, Branford Marsalis, and many more; the 3-set shows at Jones Beach, NY in '03; and the shows from The Gorge, WA where the scenic beauty always seemed impose its special effect on the music. All wonderful memories. All now available for the last time!

We are hopeful that the "core four" surviving members of the band will decide to perform together again, and that MunckMusic will bring you the recordings of these shows when they take place. In the meantime, we will continue our work to record and market more great bands and music festival performances such as Bob Weir and RatDog, Bruce Hornsby, Little Feat, and over 100 performances from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and more - all available at www.munckmusic.com.

In closing, all of us at MunckMusic want to extend a heartfelt "thank you" for your interest in The Dead's recordings over the past four years, and for thereby helping to spearhead a whole new way for bands and artists to market their music. Thanks to you, good music and good memories will live on for a long, long, time.