During my college years (circa 1994) ,I let go of some of my musical roots and branched out to other types of music. Don’t get me wrong, my parents did a fine job. I have specific memories of listening to the Beatles on trips to New England or to Virgina when I was 4 or 5. Memories vivid enough that I remember my place in the car, remember the songs played (Let It Be, Paperback Writer, etc.). It would have been 1979 or 1980 at this point, thankfully, I do have what seems to be a saved memory for those times. That being said, my parents besides liking The Beatles also turned me on to Anne Murray, The Eagles, Stevie Wonder, and a host of classical music. Anyway…
In college, with newfound friends and interest, I was able to develop a fond affection for many different types of music, both groups/bands I hadn’t even heard of before (311, Rusted Root, Morphine, Dave Matthews Band) and groups/bands that were famous but I choose not to listen to in high school for whatever reason (The Black Crowes, Led Zep, Billy Joel, etc.). That was the beauty about college — so many people, so many interests. Arguably, between school work and sleep, there wouldn’t be enough time in the day to fully explore a given person’s musical interests in great detail.
Being a big fan of the Dave Matthews Band since late 1993, I began to see a few shows. My first show of theirs was at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, in very late August or early September of 1994. It was indeed a great show, and upon coming home from that show, my following of DMB had started.
I began to do a little research on this thing called “The Internet” in 1994 about the band, and I was able to stumble upon quite a bit of excellent information about the band, even in the primative Internet world of 1994.
Upon reading more and more about them, I found out that they – like many other “jam bands” – allow the taping of their concerts. You couldn’t plug directly into the soundboard, but you could setup what equipment you had, and make an audience recording. I was so energized by this notion, that I began to actively search on how I could receive copies of concerts that people have recorded.
At this time, the Internet was a common household name. Music was not downloaded like it is today – there was no such thing. Hell, in 1994 recordable CDs were not common at the end-user level due to their cost. Instead, people collabortaed together on the Internet in a place that still exists called “Usenet”, where you could post your list of shows you have. This list would be posted in a newsgroup (similar to a web-based discussion board) where anyone else reading that group could view your list. If you had something that someone wanted, the person would contact you. If you found something from his or her list, you would do a trade. Between 1994 and 1998, I probably traded over 100 concerts and triple that amount of actual cassette tapes. You would physically take blank tapes, copy the shows the person wanted, and in good faith would mail them to the person expecting to get your shows in return. In the time I spent trading this way, I was only burned for about 10 tapes and $20 in postage. Pretty low, given the odds, I would say.
I got so into tape trading, that I decided to make a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the alt.binaries.bootlegs newsgroup where lists were posted. I relinquished control of this FAQ several years ago due to my own time constrants, but the FAQ still exists (and is currently updated), and older versions that I had created can still be found at the same website. The URL is: http://www.ambfaq.cjb.net
It’s crazy to me to look back at my revisions – 10 years ago – and see that my hard work is still there, and still used frequently.
Now, I’m going to make the jump to 2005….hold on. 😉
Welcome to the Internet. The land of cable modems, high speed connections, always-on availability, and the freedom of free information. Trading isn’t commonly done anymore the way it was. Peoople will still send what’s called “B+P” (Blanks and Postage) to new people that don’t have any shows for trading, but the common way to trade these days is something called “The Bit Torrrent Network”. Let me explain…
Check out http://www.dreamingtree.org
Confused? Don’t be. As a user goes to a concert and records it, they offer it for download. This website facilitates the searching and downloading of the DMB concerts. You’ll need a Bit Torrent client (I like a program called Bit Comet), and then you’ll need to download the “.torrent” file for a specific show. Over a few hours, you will have downloaded the whole show most likely in one of two formats; FLAC and SHN. Both are LOSSLESS audio compression formats, unlike MP3. DO NOT convert a FLAC or SHN to MP3….instead, convert to WAVE and burn to a CD.
FAQ’s at each website will do a much better job of explaining things then I can do here, so I will only offer the links. Good luck, and happy listening.
Thank to Dave Matthews, and the Dave Matthews Band for allowing live audience recordings, as well as continously outperforming themselves year after year.
Links:
The Dreaming Tree (www.dreamingtree.org)
www.etree.org
What is the Bit Torrent Network?
Bit Comet
