Multimedia Tech: May 2005 Archives

As I write this, the sounds of Ween reverberate through my apartment, and that's with the emphasis on reverb because the live set to which I'm listening is heavy on the effects! The set was from last year's Bonnaroo, in case you'd like to track it down and grab it (and share it back of course, Ween allows tape trading of their live shows). I suggest, in fact I implore everyone to download and use Furthurnet. This gem of the software world represents a brilliant application of P2P file sharing- Furthurnet is limited to bands that allow tape trading. Trading has a long history popularized by the heavy trading culture of the Grateful Dead and Phish fans, where bands known for especially strong and unique (each and every one) live performances encourage trading of bootleg recordings in order to help spead the music. In fact, this turns out to be a prototype for the modern conception of viral marketing, as the more tapes are spread, the more fans there are to turn out to their live concerts, where musicians tend to make most of their money. Furthurnet represents a great substantial non-infringing use of peer-to-peer technology, and by supporting Furthur you are in essence supporting the technology itself, as it needs such support to withstand the oft-bizarre legal attacks on its foundations. I realize I'm a big proponent of the iTMS for paid downloads of individual copyrighted tracks- Furthurnet is the perfect complement where you can round out your collection, discover excellent new bands, and give back to the trading community.