Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Napster - A Right Brain Activity

Author:Steven Spencer
Posted:7/25/2000; 9:49:57 PM
Topic:Napster - A Right Brain Activity
Msg #:19082
Prev/Next:19081 / 19083

The first time I used Napster was something of a lightning strike, an epiphany; something that shattered my notions and created new thoughts (like the first time I realized the power of XML-RPC). P2P. Yeah, that's powerful stuff. Share and share alike. No web log, no web server required. The world's biggest radio station. Only you're the program director.

I'm a music fan. Give me something I haven't heard. All radio stations are top 40. The alternative station, the rock station, the classic rock station, the oldies station, they're all the same. It's so hard to listen these days.

Four of the stations I listen to in L.A. are owned by the same company. Commericals are synced -- 20 past and 50 past the hour. I've even heard the same song played on 3 different radio stations at the same time. When the commericals start, that's when the CD goes on. To hear something new, you have to listen to college radio. Free form radio is dead. College radio is a crap shoot, but at least you can hear something new.

I was spoiled going to college in San Luis Obispo. Not because of the college radio station. There was another station there called 94.9, K-OTR (the otter). It was nothing but a small house, filled with record albums and a small transmitter. Each DJ had his or her own style. No playlist, no program directors. Saturday mornings blues, Sunday mornings blue grass. You could call up and actually have your request played -- your request didn't have to be top 40 and you didn't have to wait long to hear it. But every time you tuned in, you heard something new. Sort of like every time you connect to Napster.

Mostly I use Napster to find songs I can't buy otherwise; a live performance of Fiona Apple doing Jimmi Hendrix's 'Angel'; the Smashing Pumpkins performing unplugged on MTV. Already own all their albums anyway. Yes, I've downloaded other material. Some bands I haven't heard before some that I have. Some that I haven't heard in 10 years. Brings back great memories. What other piece software does that?

Napster is a right-brain activity. Much like drawing, painting or computer programming, you get absorbed, don't notice the hours that passed. You're almost in a daze, focused on the song, on your thoughts. Your brain just flows, old synapses connecting once again. You download one song, only to remember another. Which brings up a memory of times past and a thought of still another.

I own 300+ CDs. Has Napster stopped me from purchasing new CDs - no. I've never burned a CD; I don't have the hardware. So, I can only listen to the songs on my PC. Not in my car. Not in my living room. I haven't stopped buying CDs...

But I may if Napster is shut down ... No more pesos for Sr. (uhh, RIAA).

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