Hello all. As time goes on since our trading community's "move to digital,"
and digital copies of shows having become the almost exclusive means by which
newly circulating shows or newly circulating upgrades are introduced and
further disseminated into the community, it increasingly occurs to me that
those who listen, collect and share the music on an analog basis only (like
myself) are becoming disinfranchised, if not an endangered species. I think
of how many people who grew up being able to watch baseball passionately and
regularly on TV, fell to the wayside with the gradual shift of the games to
cable TV, and see our community analoggers currently experiencing the same
fate to an even greater extent, despite the empathetic souls who will make
the occasional CD<C transfer for others.
I'm not saying that anyone has a "right" per se to access to newly
circulating shows and upgrades, which by and large only emerge through the
extremely hard work of many dedicated individuals. All Jerry said was, "when
I'm done with it, you can have it." And unlike baseball, profit motive does
not at all enter into the issues I attempt to raise here. On the contrary,
being a part of the Dead trading community has always gone a long way to
reaffirm my being able to see the best in humanity on a regular basis. And
I certainly appreciate all the advantages of the move to digital, which
include the increased quantitative efficiency of circulating new material as
a whole. Yet, it seems to me inherently, albeit inadvertantly, at odds with
our long standing spiritual principles of getting the music out to all of
those who wish to listen to it without any catagorical exclusions to allow
analoggers to become the "bald stepchildren" (so to speak) of the community.
I think of how, even now, so many of the newly circulating shows and upgrades
come from, at least in part, "cassette masters," and yet as a whole we are
progressively ignoring the heritage of the analog cassettes that have and
continue to make so much possible in our community.
I propose that some consideration and discussion be given by the good
people who are part of The DeadLists Project (and Digest) to the possibility
that when newly circulating shows and upgrades are introduced through this
site, some arrangement is made to circulate via analog as well, whenever
possible; or how can the community as a whole become more inclusive to
analoggers? I, for one, would be more than happy to assist in any way
possible to help get more shows out to analoggers.
Thanks for listening. Any feedback on this entire matter is
appreciated and encouraged.
Joe
