for
10/7/2000
Did you know that there's a 2min 20sec full version of the Tale Spin Theme? Indeed, that it's a mombo? Am I wrong, or was "Female of the Species" the Squirrel Nut Zippers' breakthrough hit? Are you aware that there is a disco remix of the Star Wars theme, and a parody of "We Didn't Start the Fire" called "Pet Names for Genitalia."
Such are the (inevitable?) discoveries of the Exchange Services. Once, there was Napster, and while it holds on for dear life, other programs for trading (largely illegal) electronic media just as willy-nilly. The "don't get nailed like Napster" plan is simple yet (temporarily) effective: don't just trade music files. Trade anything. But mostly music.
And it works. The selections mentioned above, along with approximately 2,378 other songs have been accumulated by my girlfriend (name withheld--let's call her TimeBread) in approximately one month (!) with Scour...
...an "Exchange Service," full of music for "TimeBread" to download from other users in a "differently-legal" way.
Is it bad to get music that people put their blood, sweat and tears into without paying for it? Does it matter if it's CD quality, rather than a tape made off the radio, for instance? Are we helping or hurting a music business that's consolidating and dropping artists left and right? Indeed, by using the exchange services are we helpjng unsigned artists gain a popular foothold--even though we mostly just download music from artists we already knew?
In the end, it's not a protest; it's the age-old desire to get something for nothing. We're dealing with things larger than I can encapsulate on a sleep-deprived-but-happy weekend trip. TimeBread gets a lot of enjoyment out of it, and that's probably all I need to know for now. Indeed, we must have shared hundreds of songs this weekend.
Songs are the tofu of time; they take on the flavor of whatever's around them.
I'm just trying to get my fix now so I don't feel compelled to download Scour when I get back to Boston.
Touch the Toast