Re: (TV) Maybe OT: Is music less precious?

[Phil Obbard <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

--- Michael Olcsvary <olcsvary@verizon.net> wrote:
> So, has this almost universal
> availability made music less important to the populace at large,
> simply because, like Starbucks, it's everywhere?  Discuss.

I don't think so. It means that far more people consume far more
music than ever before, and consequently many of those "new"
consumers consume music less *intently* than the high-volume
consumers of several decades ago, but that core group of high-volume
consumers still exists in comparable numbers within the "populace at
large". 

Or, to put it another way... 

If I had lived before Gutenberg, assuming I was literate, the only
way I could read a copy of a book I was interested in was to borrow
it from someone willing to loan me their own copy (which would be of
no small financial value) or pay someone to hand-copy a "new" copy of
the book for me at great cost. 

(For argument's sakes, let's assume I'm talking not about a textbook
or manual, but purely a book of literature - something intended for
pleasure reading).

Today, I have books I can't give away - new, old, it doesn't matter,
their resale value is basically the price of the paper on which it is
printed. If I want to read a new book, I can go to Barnes & Noble
online, buy almost any of their books for less than $30, and get
same-day delivery in Manhattan. If I am traveling, I can buy most
bestsellers at any airport in this country. Or I can walk over the
library in almost any community in the US and find tens of thousands
of books for free.

Of course, I have lots of books I've never finished - some I've never
even started. I try to read everything I buy or borrow, but sometimes
my interest fades or my will to get absorbed in the book is overcome
by the difficulty of the book. (Not unlike those Echo & the Bunnymen
albums I bought, but can't really ever get into).

To borrow from Michael, has this almost universal availability made
books/literature less important to the populace at large, simply
because, like Starbucks, it's everywhere? Is that why no one wants my
used books? Or is that far more people read and 'consume' literature
than ever before in history?

--Phil
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