The Decadent Decade of Downloading: A Requieum

It's weird to consider my experiences of searching the web for music to illegally download as a journey similar to that of a record junkie. Sure, he or she might call or travel to a record store somewhere across the country just to find a rare 45, but I think there is something to be said about how similarly those web-expeditions will be missed.

Sure, walking into a record store you've traveled 3,000 miles to get to and meeting the record shop owner who shares with you the story of how he tracked it down is a fucking Norman Rockwell painting in our minds, but I went through my own puzzles to get what I've been looking for. Sure, there was no human contact along the way, or usually not. That doesn't mean it hasn't be interesting.

I've explored some of the further regions of the internet, if that can be said. You probably did too - think back to all those Russian websites you gave a shot at when you went looking for that one Red Hot Chili Peppers album, "By The Way." (Note: it's not "CD", it's "album")

Oh, and by the way, how often did they work? My guess is you went one page further and then you FREAKED OUT.

"Close! Close! X! X!"

"Dear God, I promise to never steal music again if you save my computer from a virus"

"DryLand.ru exists! I've seeeeen it!"

A virus! Sometimes they were in remission (Windows XP), sometimes they were fatal (Windows 95, 98, Me). Our computer pain was our pain - we were our computers' pain-vatars!

But back to downloading. Did you ever just read about an album on a blog somewhere (I know, I'm already nostalgiac about blogs) and then be completely unable to find it anywhere? Broken links, file's been taken down, maybe it has violated some agreement with its host or server. You just have to forget about it until sometime in the future (or be a loser and buy it <--admission that I'm a dick).

Well, soon those days will all be over. It will all be found in one place. Found won't even be the right word - it would be like saying you "found oxygen" today (which, also, is coming).

Those of us who stole - we lived dangerously! We said to hell with all those suckers who got caught, 'cause they'll never catch me!

I think elusive music, or elusive anything, will be missed. Of course, hopefully I'll be busy with a job by then, so it won't be missed too much.

Also, I bet one day I write this same exact essay, but about Tim Duncan.

File Sharing Museum

oth.net - my first Napster alternative, or maybe it pre-dates Napster

Soulseek - to this day probably the best program I ever used.

Kazaa - admit it, you just used it to find more milfhunter.

Warez - this is a warez program, which I never used - I used the website. there was no one warez site, so exploring it really was like exploring a nightmare. Every turn freaked you out. Instead of bats flapping in your face, it was some embarrassing pop up. And don't even think about using with an important file open.