Updated FRBR and some thoughts on "expression"

Another interesting cataloging news item is that there's an updated version of FRBR now available online. On the FRBR discussion list, John Hostage writes:

The full text of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) incorporating the amended definition of the expression entity as well as the errata identified to date has been made available on IFLANET in both PDF and HTML formats. [emphasis mine]

For the first time, the HTML versions of both the current text and the original 1998 text include the tables, rather than just references to the PDF version.

So what about this amended definition of "expression"? The way I understand it the expression entity is less hard and fast in its definition. There seems to more room for interpretation as to what constitutes a new expression. Here's part of the revised text:

Inasmuch as the form of expression is an inherent characteristic of the expression, any change in form (e.g., from alpha-numeric notation to spoken word) results in a new expression. Similarly, changes in the intellectual conventions or instruments that are employed to express a work (e.g., translation from one language to another) result in the production of a new expression. If a text is revised or modified, the resulting expression is considered to be a new expression.Minor changes, such as corrections of spelling and punctuation, etc., may be considered as variations within the same expression. [emphasis mine]

On a practical level, the degree to which bibliographic distinctions are made between variant expressions of a work will depend to some extent on the nature of the work itself, and on the anticipated needs of users and on what the cataloguer can reasonably be expected to recognize from the manifestation being described.