Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
I think one of the keys here is scale. Because copying an album back then depended on actually knowing someone in real life that had it, there was a better chance you would end up having to buy it if you wanted a decent copy. With the Internet it's pretty much a guarantee that you will be able to find a fairly high-quality copy somewhere for free.
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My roommate's dual-cassette player with high speed dubbing was the Napster of my dorm in 1983...
I wouldn't have purchased the cassettes (or albums) because I was a broke college student selling my plasma twice a week for my spending money. I could buy a lot more blank cassettes and borrow from friends. If that outlet was not available, I dare say I would have done without. I will add that since then I've replaced many of those dubbed cassettes with purchased CDs.
There will always be darknet downloaders. I wonder whether there ever will be enough to justify treating honest consumers like criminals. I say that as a published author who hopes to publish more. I'd like to see a solution that combines the best of both--protection of copyright and freedom of use.