Abby Sowalla - Blog #2

When I interviewed one of my relatives over spring break about how media had changed since they were young, I got an unexpected lesson about the history of music pirating.

Most people know that in the days before streaming, the internet, and even CDs and DVDs, music and video could be stored in tape format, on a VHS or cassette tape. I had never stopped to wonder how pirating worked in the days of tape. Sure, I could have guesses that that recordings could be taped illegally on VHS in the same manner that they might be burned onto a CD or posted online, but it had never crossed my mind to wonder what unique techniques and challenges were faced by earlier media pirates.

My relative described how some of his peers would go about trying to obtain tapes of songs they liked without simply buying legally recorded tapes. They could obtain an empty tape, wait for a song they liked to come on, then record it onto the tape. This method presented many challenges for the youth. First off, they might have to wait a long time for the song they wanted to play on the radio. While they waited, they would have to remain alert so that when the right song did come on, they could start recording immediately and not have the beginning of the song cut off. Another challenge for these people was the quality of their music. A re-recorded song would not have as good sound quality as the original recording. Furthermore, the beginning and end of the song would likely be disrupted by the radio host’s voice. Despite these challenges, youth continued to make the most of the technology at their disposal and record the songs they liked.

My relative expressed his surprise that a formal way to record from a radio, in such a manner as a DVR allows people to record TV shows, had never taken off. I had never thought about it before, but I suppose for someone who listens to the radio often, it might be helpful to be able to press a button and obtain a recording if you heard a song you liked. However, I also understand why such technology wouldn’t be considered necessary by most radio companies; it’s already very easy to find a song online if you can remember a line of the lyrics you heard on the radio.

My relative talked about how media had become easier to use and access over the years. He spoke of the many challenges of using tape: How tapes needed to be rewound after use, how tapes could become jammed, how tape could be sucked from the cassette or VHS and into the player machine and need to be removed and untangled. I had fun comparing these issues to problems with more modern technologies. A CD or DVD might occasionally need to be cleaned to work properly, or it could be scratched and never work right again. A streamed music or film could be impeded by patchy Wi-Fi – I can recall feeling frustrated on numerous occasions by the dead Wi-Fi within the rooms of Forbes hall. I imagine my relative might have endured similar frustration in their youth when they found a tape which hadn’t been rewound or contained a nasty tangle.

After music pirating and ease of technology use, a third topic my relative addressed was the phenomenon of Blockbuster. Just as my generation often does on Netflix, my relative’s generation would sometimes stroll through a blockbuster, looking at hundreds of movie titles, and not know if there was anything they really wanted to watch. When a new release came out, copies would be placed in a specially designated part of the store and they would be snatched up quickly, often going out of stock at times. I guess one of the good things about Netflix is that a streamed video doesn’t go “out of stock.”

I was horrified when my relative spoke about how people used the internet before search engines. He explained that if you wanted to access a website, you would have to remember and type in the whole URL. It goes to show that technology has made great strides in ease of use. It always irritates me when I have to type out a URL, and I would hate to have to do it every day! As Saqib Shah stated in our reading “The History of Social Networking,” the “Infant Years” of technology (particularly, social networking technology) were characterized by a level of difficulty which meant that only a few hobbyists would partake in the technology, but over time, the popularity of the technology would grow, and so would the ease of use.

When I think of different ways technology has evolved and improved over the years, I am reminded of the many repercussions these fast changes have had on society. After all, effective technology isn’t just used to make better recordings of pirated music. This technology can also be used to make and distribute clean, convincing pieces of edited or false media, such as the political video of Nancy Peloski tearing her transcript of Donald Trump’s speech multiple times throughout Trump’s speech, or the propaganda media spread through Facebook in the wake of the notorious Myanmar genocide. The same advanced technology which makes it easier for the average person to do what they want to do simultaneously makes it easier for people with unscrupulous motives to manipulate others and spread false information. However, modern technology cannot take the full blame for the manipulations they are used for. In the absence of modern technology, people would still be finding ways to manipulate other people’s political opinions and spread hate speech. These tasks would be harder without the internet, but they would still get done. As we can learn from the example of the challenges people used to face when pirating music on cassettes, people will find ways to do what they wish to do, even if it is hard.