Thu, 4 May 2000 found MShull3232ATaol.com writing:
steev said:
>> wholesale bootlegging (which is really what napster is)
>
>I don't necessarily agree. It's a tool. How it's used depends on who's
>using it and every tool has the potential for misuse. For me, Napster has
>served as a 'consumer education tool'. For the most part, radio sucks. So
you're right, i stand corrected. Napster is not all about bootlegging.
And you're right it helps people hear stuff and i'm sure many of them
still go out and buy a copy of what they hear.
(tho as far as comparing it to radio, i find napster to have about the
same range of drek that the range of radio in a metropolitan area usually
carries, or worse than radio, if you live near some really good student
radio stations)
but anyway i do still think it's a shame because it does confuse the
issues.
further (and off on a tangent),i don't really believe any more the
oft-cited maxim that technology is neutral and it just depends on what
people use it for that determines good or evil. i believe tools have an
essential nature. a handgun, a television, a shovel, they all tend to get
their users to tend to behave in a certain way. in some cases this is just
packaging and "interface design". in other cases it's very fundamental.
i think that the one good point that Metallica made in their chat a
couple days ago ( http://www.artistdirect.com/metallica/ )
is that Napster is a corporation, and they are doing what they
do for money. they're not doing what they do out of altruism. which doesnt
change what side i'm on, but i don't see Napster, Inc as heroes of free
information or something. It's just a business plan to them.
smh
Steev Hise, Head Chump
steevATdetritus.net http://detritus.net/steev
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