The Electrification of Books

--- In [email protected], "Mary E. Tyler" wrote:

> Though granted, there was a comment made about audio books
> being "books" and unfortunately, I am one of those luddites who
> think of books as things you READ. I think of audio books as
> audio--as close to music as they are to books -- perhaps closer.

First - not a Luddite.

There's a very important point buried indirectly in there, one that 
someone made within the last couple days here as well (my apologies 
to that earlier forgotten author). Perhaps, in a sense, paper books 
are analogous to paper music, sold for the purposes of performing. 
Music went through a revolution when it was electrified, one that 
books have yet to go through.

Music was originally always 'performed' after being composed and it 
varied depending on the performer, listener, and context. But 
recorded music fixed the performance - which is different that 
having fixed the composition. It's possible to see reading as a form 
of performing a book, and that because of the ease of handling 
audio, we might someday see audiobooks as the main form, and text 
books as the anachronism. (I'm reminded that it reading as a silent 
activity dramatically post-dates the written word.) I think that the 
day of audiobooks as the predominate form would be a bad day, but I 
will admit that I'm looking from this side of such a revolution, 
without knowing what the other side looks like, and hence somewhat 
biased.

Much as the older sheet music times meant a closer relationship with 
the music, it only meant that when you performed or listened to it. 
After the electricification of music, the relationship could be a 
lot less close, but there could be so much *more* of it - player 
pianos, records, radio, then tape - through to Muzak, CDs, 
computers, and MP3s.

At this point, I would *love* to be able to have you go listen to an 
eight-part documentary called "The Wire" about the history of 
electricity in music. It covers this ground in amazing detail, using 
interviews with incredible numbers of the original participants in 
the electrification process - from Les Paul through Larry Lessig.

Unfortunately, the last time it was broadcast was 2006, and you 
can't (yet??) buy it anyway, anywhere. So here's the best I can do...

A background interview...
http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/behind_scenes_thewire.asp

Some excerpts ...
http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/audio_library_2005.asp
(scroll down to "The Wire", second entry)

Finally, the website ...
http://www.cbc.ca/thewire/
with a ton of background material, the original interviews - but not 
the actual episodes. Drat.

You might be able to hear it by signing up here...
http://www.prx.org/series/6637

and Google here for way more.
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+wire%22+jowi+taylor

Lots to think about here after you've listened.

...Chris





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