Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!APPLE.COM!nli!jym
From: nli!jym@APPLE.COM
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Free Nelson Mandela
Message-ID: <8908302354.AA02660@nlp9>
Date: 30 Aug 89 23:54:52 GMT
References: <8908301444.AA28404@ele.tue.nl>
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> Free software goes on disks.  Free music goes on cassettes.

I've had a few comments---most private, one public---about this
 statement, so I guess I'd better explain it.

We already have mostly-free music.  While it is technically illegal
 to tape copyrighted recording material, people do it all the time.
  And it hasn't killed the record/CD industry.

Few of the people who call software pirates thieves and communists
 would say the same about home tapers.  In fact, I'd guess that an
  overwhelming majority of people would oppose any attempt to enforce
   those laws, because it would entail a great loss of freedom.

Most of the music I like is on small, independent labels, and I often
 end up buying the records to support the labels and artists.  But
  that's my choice.  If somebody doesn't like them enough to support
   them---or, alternatively, can't afford to support them---should be
    able to tape them anyhow.  That's their choice.

A friend of Paul Simon's lent him some tapes he'd made of South African
 artists.  Simon listened to the tapes while driving around.  The result
  was _Graceland_, a pan-cultural collaboration and an international
   audience for some of these artists.

If it weren't for the taping, Simon may have never heard or heard of
 Zulu jive music.  Those records are on the Shanachie label, which most
  stores don't carry.  If the music hadn't been copied in a form that was
   convenient for him to listen to, he might never have listened to it.

The parallels with software should be easy to deduce.
 <_Jym_>