Up through the download
Apr. 14th, 2008 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"I'm in repair/I'm not together but I'm getting there."
- John Mayer, "In Repair"
I am getting old enough now that I can look with nostalgia upon the Napster phenomenon and the period of unfettered communal anarchy it inspired. I confess that the bulk of my bulging digital music library was illicitly acquired during this technological free-for-all, byte by downloaded byte. Any associated pangs of guilt were assuaged by watching five minutes of MTV Cribs, that repulsively narcissistic exhibition of material excess.
I also justified the practice by purchasing the actual albums or concert tickets for those artists I really liked. It was as if I was trying to demonstrate the medium's facility as a marketing tool.
But then came the bloodthirsty prosecutorial vengeance of the Recording Industry Association of America, suing any ten-year-old girl, 90-year-old woman or two-year-old hard drive that so much as smelled like Teen Spirit. The threat of the threat of bankruptcy sobered me up and forced me to conduct my musical exploration elsewhere.
So I started frequenting the popular music section of my public library. (Another reason to love the library: enabling freeloading music enthusiasts since at least 2002.) which offers neither the selection nor the anonymity of digital downloading, but does have the added bonus of liner notes.
Unfortunately -- for the artists, anyway -- the ability to access and rip the entire album sort of eliminates the need or desire to purchase it.
But this past weekend I borrowed John Mayer's 2006 album Continuum from the library. I won't belabor the album with praise (Matt Collar from AllMusic Guide did that already, and I suspect his knees are still sore), but I'll say this: It's the first time I had a whole album in my digital library and liked it so much that I went out and bought it anyway.
I would recommend the tracks "Gravity," "In Repair," and "I'm Gonna Find Another You," but that would just encourage you to download it.
- John Mayer, "In Repair"
I am getting old enough now that I can look with nostalgia upon the Napster phenomenon and the period of unfettered communal anarchy it inspired. I confess that the bulk of my bulging digital music library was illicitly acquired during this technological free-for-all, byte by downloaded byte. Any associated pangs of guilt were assuaged by watching five minutes of MTV Cribs, that repulsively narcissistic exhibition of material excess.
I also justified the practice by purchasing the actual albums or concert tickets for those artists I really liked. It was as if I was trying to demonstrate the medium's facility as a marketing tool.
But then came the bloodthirsty prosecutorial vengeance of the Recording Industry Association of America, suing any ten-year-old girl, 90-year-old woman or two-year-old hard drive that so much as smelled like Teen Spirit. The threat of the threat of bankruptcy sobered me up and forced me to conduct my musical exploration elsewhere.
So I started frequenting the popular music section of my public library. (Another reason to love the library: enabling freeloading music enthusiasts since at least 2002.) which offers neither the selection nor the anonymity of digital downloading, but does have the added bonus of liner notes.
Unfortunately -- for the artists, anyway -- the ability to access and rip the entire album sort of eliminates the need or desire to purchase it.
But this past weekend I borrowed John Mayer's 2006 album Continuum from the library. I won't belabor the album with praise (Matt Collar from AllMusic Guide did that already, and I suspect his knees are still sore), but I'll say this: It's the first time I had a whole album in my digital library and liked it so much that I went out and bought it anyway.
I would recommend the tracks "Gravity," "In Repair," and "I'm Gonna Find Another You," but that would just encourage you to download it.
