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Another Night and Day Alliance 078
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## ## ### I S S U E # 0 7 8 0 6 - 1 6 - 0 0 ### ####
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#### ### "My First, Last, and Only Dissertation on Napster" ###
####### by Phairgirl
####
I'm tired of hearing NAPSTER THIS, NAPSTER THAT, Metallica sucks, our
college blocked us, blah blah blah blah WHINE.
Back In The Day, there was no such thing as Napster. Back then,
those of us who wanted elite mp3 audio files got them primarily from FTP
sites (prounounced: EFF TEE PEE). And the FTPs would only be around for a
limited time before the servers would generally shut them down for crimes
against bandwidth. Some of us got our mp3s from websites (prounounced: AYCH
TEE TEE PEE). That was generally unreliable, as it remains today. And
still others traded over IRC (pronounced EYE ARE CEE, no matter WHAT
Swisspope says) and ICQ and other such gathering places. We had it rough,
old buddies, yes. This was when 56K was brand spankin' new, and having a
network connection in your dorm meant you could get your e-mail without
leaving your room and look at lots of porn.
Anyway, it's not like this was a long time ago or anything, at most 3
years. THREE YEARS, YOU YOUNG PUPPIES. And since then, Napster has taken
over and become this insanely silly controversy that got Metallica's and Dr.
Dre's underwear in a bunch. Gnutella is out there. The newest Scour agent
is out there. iMesh. Et al. And as much as ISPs and web sites will cry
out as being against copyright infringement, they sure are making it easier
for us all to infringe as much as we like.
But I'm not assigning blame anywhere: there are obviously many
reasons that people use Napster. There are those people you always see in
articles and magazines, the ones that say "I'M NEVER BUYING A CD AGAIN
THANKS TO NAPSTER." These people are the ENEMY. They are the reasons that
Metallica et al. are pissed off, and rightfully so. I mean, that is out and
out copyright infringement, plain and simple. That's the law. Period, no
discussion.
There are other types of Napster users, however, who I find to be the
VAST MAJORITY actually, who use it to find out-of-print, import, hard-to-
find items. There are users that are searching for live bootlegs of bands
they like. And although there's still copyright law being violated in some
of those respects, it's much more noble than paying some jabroni $50 for a
CD on eBay for that 10-year-old Depeche Mode single with one remix that you
haven't heard yet or for a bootleg on CD-R of a show recorded on a MiniDisc
from the middle of the audience.
There are Napster users that only like one song by an artist who
would probably end up ripping the wav from a friend's CD and burning it to a
mix disc anyway. Some of these same types of users will download a song
because they'd be too embarassed to buy it in a store (ahhh, how we all love
to relive the days of New Kids on the Block). And still others liked a song
on the radio 15 years ago and have no other way of hearing it again.
And then there are crackheads like me, who abuse the internet for all
it's worth. Why do I have 3000 mp3s? Well, I liked Chemical Brothers, so I
would download some of their mp3s. I then saved those users from whom I
downloaded to my hotlist. I figure, if they like Chemical Brothers, they
probably like some other stuff I've never heard of yet. And through a
tried-and-true combination of things like that, as well as checking my
recommendations on CDNow and amazon.com, I've come to be a huge German
goth/industrial FANATIC. Really. I live in Iowa. How in the hell else
could I be exposed to Haujobb, Das Ich, Einstürzende Neubauten, and
countless others?
But my crackheadedness goes further. After I find these bands and
decide I LOVE THEM, I download everything I can of theirs. And when that is
done, I BUY any of their CDs that I can find. Sometimes this takes such
extremes as ordering from amazon.de and hoping that I've clicked the right
buttons and that 123.98 DM isn't too much to pay for 4 CDs. (It's not, it
was only $60 US!) In a nutshell, Napster has made me insane.
Napster has introduced me to Faith and the Muse and The Changelings,
a couple of beautiful and fascinating goth artists that were most certainly
unlike anything else I listened to pre-cable modem. It forced my obsession
with Blümchen, who ROCKS MY WORLD with the happy happy happiest europop in
the history of mankind. Wumpscut. Front Line Assembly. Foetus. The
Gathering. Switchblade Symphony. 808 State. Those are just a minute few
of the bands that have profited by gaining my loyalty in buying their music
because of Napster.
And although there probably aren't a gizillion people out there like
me, considering a lot of Napster users are poor as dirt college students who
have little choice in the way of finding new music, it's the record
industry's wet dream. Realize that there wouldn't be ANY of this
controversy if there weren't those morons running around saying "Hey, I'm
never buying another CD again! Thank you Napster!" If some tiny Swedish or
Australian band got exposure in IOWA via this medium, why would anyone
complain? BECAUSE IT'S THEIR JOB!
Honestly. MP3 is good quality, yes, but any fool with ears that work
can tell it has its limitations. Some things are still easier to find just
by shelling out a few bucks and buying the CD. And, truly, if you REALLY
REALLY like a band, buying their CD means you get liner notes, album art,
possibly lyrics, and the satisfaction of knowing that you're showing both
the band and the record company that you appreciate their efforts.
And if you have some Winterkälte, please come on Napster. I WANT.
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# (c)2000 aNAda e'zine aNAda078 .*. by Phairgirl #
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