Quite the opposite. Thanks Eric, for putting things in perspective. Most people I know dj with Mp3s and of course it has its advantages. After all, like you wrote: the songs and the music are what is important. Much of my one-sided attitude towards the digital world comes from a feeling of alienation and being confused by this downloading dilemma. And also my strange, deep-rooted fetishism with objects. My girlfriend really hates my collecting habit and continually urges me get rid of stuff. I admit it is a burden sometimes, to keep the piles in our appartement organized, but as I see it, that is part of being a fanatic. The objects are a physical representatin of that passion. Objects create comfort. An appartement with no furniture, pictures or books, is a jail cell. To me MP3s are like “The Emperor´s New Clothes”. It feels like some crooks have convinced everyone to buy a new, much more advanced format, whose merits can only be seen by intelligent people. And now everybody pretends it´s cool, because they don’t want to look stupid. And I´m the naive child in the crowd who shouts:”We´re all naked!”
Nobody knows how to solve the problem of “illegal” downloads and of course saying: “buy vinyl” is not a realistic solution. It´s not possible to turn back the hands of time. But sometimes I wonder what would happen, if artists refused to publish digital files. If all they produced was vinyl, or some other format that is not as easily reproducible. It would only take a little more effort to digitize it and it would not prevent people from distributing it illegally. But it would also tell everyone: this is my object that I offer you and want you to buy. Instead of offering a “product” that is invisible.