cassettes: live or memorex

[Kim Cascone <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Finally, (one more time)... It is interesting to me how there wasn't
> much outcry when people made cassette copies of their friends albums.
cassettes are a lossy medium whereas the commonly held (mis)perception is
that digital files are exact replicas of the original...also, the manner and
speed at which these files are made available is not like cassettes where
the copy was contained and not able to be copied again without the amount of
resulting degradation rendering it unlistenable...conversely if you copy a
mp3 file there is (theoretically) no degradation...so copies are able to
proliferate in a viral manner...this is what scares the RIAA and big guns...

one very interesting point that Tobias made a while back is that (Tobias,
correct if I muddle this) is that record companies, publishers et al all try
to make an artist/track ubiquitous...so everywhere you go you hear a
particular piece of music...the mall, clothing shop, shoe store, electronics
store, MTV, radio, dentists office, gym, etc...so people tend to view music
as a free commodity since they are immersed in it constantly in public...so
why can't they have the ability/right to control how and when they are
immersed? if they are using an mp3 player with that same track on it they
then gain that control...not sure I explained this correctly but maybe
someone can help me flesh this out...

I think the brainwashing attempt to market and sell 'product' by creating a
'networked aura' (my term) has helped to spawn this attitude that music is
free for the taking...the industry commodifies music in such a way as to
devalue it...

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