quoted 1 line How much time and money is it going to cost to download an album over a shared 56k
> How much time and money is it going to cost to download an album over a shared 56k
dialup from a Calcutta cyber cafe, or somewhere similar in Thailand, China, Brazil, etc?
A friend of mine just returned from a business trip to Shang Hai. Dial-up accounts are
free all over China, I've been told; you just pay the cost of the local call.
The friend said much is available on the street or in markets; this person wasn't a fan
of idm, but I'd guess that you aren't going to pick up Delarosa and Asora from a
bootlegger there. Still, if you are one of the lucky minority in Shanghai who can afford
a PC (which is as cheap as the states, if not cheaper), then the cost for obtaining
something via p2p is considerably cheaper than buying a Made in the USA imported IDM 12"
or CD. On a monthly salary of $571 (rough liberal average for rookie white-collar
worker), that's a lot of incentive to use p2p. These same people, like their Western
counterparts, are working in companies with T1 lines or DSL, where they are able to spend
their employed time just as many in the West are or were able to.
From what I know, cyber cafes in Thailand and China aren't using 56k; they're broadband.
You'd be surprised. I couldn't get reliable DSL service living in Harlem for more than a
year after I first subscribed. Now, living in Asia, I live in the freaking mountains and
had DSL within 2 weeks (it has been perfectly reliable ever since). Verizon couldn't do
that shit.
There's a widely held misconception state-side that America is technologically superior
to anywhere else on the planet. More Americans ought to travel more; they'd begin to see
that life in America isn't so grand, or at least doesn't have a monopoly on reasonable
standards of living. There is little doubt that many more people suffer than belong to
the wired class (for a variety of reasons); but Americans are often ignorant about the
truth of living standards in various places around the world.
So, back to IDM and p2p... have you ever been record shopping in Tokyo? There's a
shocking experience. CDs in Japan are extremely expensive, making p2p look even better
for consumers there. While I'm not too sure about the number of p2p users downloading IDM
in China or elsewhere in Asia, I'm sure Japan has a large number of users.
I understand Jeff's points about the benefits for artists provided labels, but I don't
understand his skepticism about the online world. At any rate, it's an argument about
economics and practicality that's been rehashed here dozens of times. The customer will
always try to find a way to get the same product for less. When p2p makes it so easy,
there is only time between now and the end of label-as-business (as we know it). There
will be clever business people (probably not musicians) who will figure out the model for
profitting on this new way; hearing labels gripe is like listening to the frustrated and
dying old guy in a wheelchair at the nursing home, griping to everyone about how the food
doesn't taste as good and how his family doesn't visit as much as they used to. Sure,
it's sad, but he's going to pass away, and he'll be forgotten. His family and close
friends will mourn for a while, but even they will move on.
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