Rantings of an 80*s chick

 

Hiya fellow Bloggers! Anyone a wonderfully screwed up child of the 80*s? I admit it. I love to mix up my socks so the colors coordinate, but don’t match. I wear one orange and one black flipflop. I paint each set of toes a different color (and my daughters' toes, too) I blare Sweet Child O’ Mine from the speakers of my boombox (Do they even call them that anymore?). For better, or worse, I am a product of that wonderfully fashion-handicapped time in our history.

That said, allow me to make a point. Well, one that has less to do with me, and more to do with other people. As pointed out by our wonderful host of Feature & Follow, Parajunkee (Rachel ), it is poor blog etiquette to constantly post about oneself. Given, of course, that the blogger would delight in having followers who haven’t known them since, say…elementary school. 

What? Oh, right, the point. Here it is…

Who complained about piracy when I was recording a favorite song from the radio on my cassette tape?  For that matter, who rose issue over me recording a friend’s purchased cassette to my own cassette? You got it: no one. Was that wrong? Well, hell yes. However, by being passive about allowing that to go on, the industry has helped to raise an entire generation that views that not only as acceptable, but as expected. So, with the ever-improving technology, we can now accomplish the same tasks quicker and with better quality. Now we have full-blown lawsuits in response to the very thing we did before without issue. They shut down sites, threaten jail time or fines. It’s reminiscent of allowing a child to get away with some bad behavior for years, then doling out punishments for that very behavior when it becomes increasingly inconvenient.

 

Allow me to clarify, so as not to incite your wrath: Do I believe I should be able to get whatever songs I want without paying for them? Er, no. Do I believe they are wrong for being proactive in fighting against it? Again, no. What am I ranting about? The fact that they allowed it to go on without mainstreamly addressing it. (And, yes, I just used mainstream as an adverb…grammar police?)

So…all in all, we appear to be a generation WAY too in touch with Freud’s Id. The I-want-it-now-I-must-have-it-now part of the mind. As a generalization, of course, there are many in our generation that believe it’s okay to take what’s out there because they lack the funds to pay for it, but the artist is swimming in piles of money Scrooge McDuck style. There are other reasonings, I’m sure, but this is the one I hear most frequently. 

My one complaint in this is: I can buy a CD and rip it to my computer, then sync it to my iPod/MP3 player. Great. Why can’t I do that with my traditional books? Wouldn’t it be fab if you bought a hard cover or paper back book and  could ALSO read it on your Kindle/Nook/iPad/iPod/smart phone/computer? Seriously. Let me plug a book in and rip it to my computer! Or, just provide me a code that would allow me to access it via electronic methods. That would be stellar!

So, what are your thoughts? Should we be allowed to grab a CD from the library and rip it? Should we be able to download songs free from the Internet without paying? Comment on anything in the post. Agree or disagree with me or other comments, but please be respectful. 

Can’t wait to hear your feedback! And, welcome to my blog!

~andi