For those of us old enough to remember the dark times before the internet...

Remember how you'd listen to the radio, fingers next to the Play and Record buttons (because you had to press both to record) in anticipation of the DJ playing the song you just called in to request? When he did, you'd slam the buttons down, and pray that he didn't fuck up the song by talking over the intro or playing the station call sign.

Was that pirating music as it's defined today? They say trends repeat themselves... there's software out there that lets you capture whatever audio your computer's playing. Combine that with internet radio, and it's a digital version of the cassette/FM radio method.

What do you think?

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

i hadn't yet put it together like that but i think you're on to something. intresting choice of words - "trends" too bad today's software isn't as cheap as the cassettes were. my homemade compilation tapes were the bulk of my collection; quite the cherished prize for a poor kid like me. i remember my first double deck system. . .didn't leave my room for weeks.

MrM...I totally remember doing that. And yes it's pirating according to today's standards. As is taking a cassette tape from a friend and putting it in the dual cassette ghetto blaster and making a copy for yourself.

Dark, dark times indeed.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

you sooooo took me back. Thank goodness for flashgot, download helper and all the wonderful piracy encouraging applications of today

Back then it wasn't considered pirating because a cassette tape recorder, no matter how good, cannot make a really high quality recording from a radio station or a record or even a CD. That's what the courts said when the record companies tried to test it.

With digital recordings you aren't copying analogue sine waves onto a flawed magnetic tape, you're copying ones and zeros onto either a magnetic disk hard drive or onto flash memory. You can also store digital files on cassette tapes, if you have the right interface, but nobody does that anymore. In the old days cassettes were used for storing digital data on computers like the Commodore Vic 20 and so on.

Once you have the ones the zeroes, as long as you can tell the difference between a one and a zero you can recreate the original music perfectly. Even if the media you are using has flaws in it, like scratches on the magnetic coating, it's okay as long as you still tell which is a one and which is a zero. You might drop a bit here or there, but it's usually not enough to hurt the sample rate and you can still recreate the music.

Because of this "perfection" the record companies managed to get judges and politicians to believe them this time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2010 05:28PM by tomahawk.

I made mix tapes from 45's, getting only the songs I want and sometimes an interesting B side. Kind of like buying singles off iTunes now :)

tomahawk Wrote:
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> Back then it wasn't considered pirating because a
> cassette tape recorder, no matter how good, cannot
> make a really high quality recording from a radio
> station or a record or even a CD.




I think tapes sound better than MP3's

loophole Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tomahawk Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Back then it wasn't considered pirating because
> a
> > cassette tape recorder, no matter how good,
> cannot
> > make a really high quality recording from a
> radio
> > station or a record or even a CD.
>
>
>
>
> I think tapes sound better than MP3's


Bran new, maybe, but play that tape 10 times, fail to clean your tape player heads, or leave the tape in your hot car and they degrade quick. The tape rubs against the heads and guide rollers, which eventually wears it out.

And a taped song from an FM radio station does not have the quality of a digital recording, because there is noise introduced in the radio station's equipment, radio transmission, and in your receiver and tape recording equipment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2010 09:47PM by tomahawk.

themuse Wrote:
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> i hadn't yet put it together like that but i think
> you're on to something. intresting choice of
> words - "trends" too bad today's software isn't
> as cheap as the cassettes were. my homemade
> compilation tapes were the bulk of my collection;
> quite the cherished prize for a poor kid like me.
> i remember my first double deck system. . .didn't
> leave my room for weeks.

Twin decks with auto-reverse. You could listen to mix tapes for hours without lifting a finger.

As a teenager, DC101 would play new albums in their entirety at midnight. And the DJ would give you plenty of lead time after he announced the record.

A few years later, they, for a brief time, starting playing 3 albums in their entirety Sunday nights beginning at 6:00 p.m..

The record labels did start to get on their case about this. So they stopped.

The Dead Kennedys' stance on cassette tapes & pirating music was made very clear on their "In God We Trust, Inc." album:


Attachments:

TheMeeper Wrote:
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> The Dead Kennedys' stance on cassette tapes &
> pirating music was made very clear on their "In
> God We Trust, Inc." album:
>

That brings a tear to my eye.

Fucking awesome.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I used to always borrow cassettes listen and tape the bits that I liked...my friends would do the same. I still have my cassette collection stored in some boxes. Ditto CDs and LPs.

First LP I bought was Pink Floyd's The Wall
First Cassette was Violent Femmes - self title
First CD was Tracy Chapman's - fast car
don't remember what the first mp3 was, was a download though from good old Napster back when it had just came out. One of my same friends I borrowed cassettes from told me about it.

I remember pressing play/record simultaneously though...good memories - cheers!

Britdrnva~ Wrote:
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> I remember pressing play/record simultaneously
> though...good memories - cheers!

And oh, the frustration when you'd hit record before play, causing the record button to stay locked. So you'd let up on record, accidentally pushing the play button all the way in. Then you had to hit stop and try again. By this point, you've missed half of that killer opening riff to "Welcome to the Jungle."

Mother fucker. I'm mad just thinking about it.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I've had to jam jellybeans in those holes on top to make it dub-able. I hear scotch tape works too.

Yahweh Wrote:
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> I've had to jam jellybeans in those holes on top
> to make it dub-able. I hear scotch tape works
> too.

I would try the tape before the jellybeans. :D

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I can remember making tape copies and using the high speed dubbing to move the process along. My dad would always bang on my bedroom door and tell me to cut that shit off.

TheMeeper Wrote:
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> The Dead Kennedys' stance on cassette tapes &
> pirating music was made very clear on their "In
> God We Trust, Inc." album:
>

Nice move by the DK's. Did you have to tape over the stupid little holes on the cassette?

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM

WingNut Wrote:
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>
> Nice move by the DK's. Did you have to tape over
> the stupid little holes on the cassette?

Yes, but Side B was indeed blank. It's funny, that album was released on cassette more than 25 years ago, yet piracy still remains an "issue" today.

high speed dubbing and auto reverse. oh how times have changed.

yeefuckinghaw

themuse Wrote:
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> high speed dubbing and auto reverse. oh how times
> have changed.

LOL
Haven't heard those two words in almost 20 years.

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM

I have a bookshelf stereo system with a cassette deck on it. I think it was the last one ever built. I bought it in like 2003. I never use the tape player much, since I don't have any tapes!

I think some of those faux old fashioned radios they sell in Fischer's Hardware might have cassette players in them.

Can you even buy blank cassettes anymore?

tomahawk Wrote:
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>
> Can you even buy blank cassettes anymore?

Evidently you can
http://www.amazon.com/MAXELL-UR-120-Blank-Audio-Cassette/dp/B000087NBU/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1286274306&sr=8-6