[linux-audio-user] Cactus Data Shield copy controlled cd's

Daniel James daniel at mondodesigno.com
Thu Jul 3 06:54:00 EDT 2003


> > Frank Zappa even laid out the business model
> > for music downloads (in his autobiography) even before the
> > technology was available.
>
> Could you tell a bit more about that? 

The Real Frank Zappa Book, published 1989. Page 337 'A Proposal for a 
system to replace phonograph record merchandising'.

Re-reading it now, I'm amazed to notice that Zappa took this 
all-digital network music idea to Rothschild Venture Capital many 
years before the book was written, when CDs hadn't yet become 
generally available and a CD player cost $700. He begins with the 
limitations and business problems of vinyl distribution, and argues 
that CD won't really solve those problems.

The idea was that the digital music would come down the phone line or 
cable TV wire, where it could be transferred onto a Sony F1 tape 
machine (which I assume is an early form of DAT). Alternatively, a 
cheaper solution would use a DA converter and analogue cassette tape. 
It was proposed to do all the royalty accounting in software, with 
subscribers paying a flat monthly fee. The album artwork would be 
displayed on the cable TV channel.

Needless to say, the VCs turned Zappa down. But it proves that the 
ideas were there for the taking, probably twenty years ago.

Cheers

Daniel



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