The last time I left the United States was 2004 and it was to Asia, not South America. Things change and one thing I notice is how music and movies are pirated.
For as long as I have been traveling I have seen developing countries violating copyright, no reason to get upset it is just how things work.
In the late 1990s, in the Middle East, I remember seeing music stores where you would pick out whatever you wanted and then the guy running the place would dub it onto a cassette for you while you waited.
I doubt, that many cassettes are being bootlegged now.
Later on when CD-Rs and CD writers where cheap and commonplace, you could buy an album or movie on one CD, in the case of the movie it would have to be rendered down badly to fit on only one CD, this format being called VCD.
The quality was bad, but the format was the standard and it was possible to buy a stand-alone VCD player. Understand? Not a CD player, not a DVD player that could play VCDs, but just a VCD player. Later on it would all come together.
Enter 2008.
DVD writers have replaced CD writers. How has this changed pirating? Well, as my friend Dennis would say the future is where they have the bigger and better guns.
You won’t hear anything more true, than from Dennis.
Okay, so you get more bang for your buck. I’m used to being able to buy an album or movie in low quality on a CD for a buck, but now you can buy five VCD films or the complete Stones or Beatles discography on a DVD for a buck.
What is this noise about inflation?
All the Rocky films for $1, or the Rambo films; for a dollar f*ck it.
When it comes to bootlegging I want to say something about Windows XP but I think that will have to wait until next time.
-J Roland Kelly
