Russell McOrmond has An Interesting Post over on Digital Copyright Canada with a quote by by Cory Doctorow.
Doctorow says “We’ve built a fireproof library – and if that’s the only thing we remember about the dot.com revolution, then it’s been worth every penny we spent on it.”
He also says that Napster was “…at the time was [effectively] the largest library of human creativity ever assembled…”
Are file sharing networks really libraries?
sure they are
Filesharing networks are like libraries, though they are more like personal libraries than public libraries. The whole notion of a “distributed library” sort of flies in the face of the ideas of control and inventory that we’re used to, but honestly compare what Napster has (or had) with what your public library has, music-wise.
Napster gave me a song at a time, for free. It had almost anything I was looking for. Granted, it was against the law, but my very-legal library checks out a CD at a time, for seven days at a time with fines, checkout limits and often-scratched or unplayable media. I love my library, love it, but I don’t go there for music. I don’t go to Napster anymore either, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get more of my music from online sources than from the library OR the music store.
Well… sorta
Filesharing does equal the *contents* of a library. And, Napster in its heyday, almost *always* had at least one source for any music/artist I could think of. And, what was even better, was that I could plug in a song I really liked, and see what other people had in their collections; like browsing the shelf that your target book is on, to see what else is in/near range. That’s what I miss most. I’ve been looking at some music recommendation sites, but that’s a step removed, and I’m a lot less likely to do that.
The problem with filesharing is the legality, and the spamming. Most libraries have excellent spam-proofing; very little crap on their shelves.
There are some other problems with saying (filesharing == library). They don’t come with reference librarians, nor physical instances. But we’re getting closer. Netflix and the like, provide some physical instantation. But with the decline of Napster we’ve seen a setback. We’re falling behind the couldabeens. We’re seriously approaching a 6/10ths of a decade lag. And with it, the inability to get to the Singularity.
If I had _Radical Evolution_ by Joel Garreau (ISBN: 0385509650 ), I might tell you about some different scenarios in store for us (that begin to look probable).
— Ender, Duke_of_URL