Meryl points out a great idea in meatspace peer-to-peer trading: BookCrossing. Leave your old books out in a random place, and watch them flow through the lives of others.
Saw the collected DFWbloggers last night, many of whom I hadn’t seen in at least a week! Fun as always, and good to see some of the not-quite-as-regulars show up. (Aside: does anybody know where I could find a readymade script for a “What Kind of Blah-Blah-Blah Am I?” quiz?)
Also, many thanks to Max and Chris, the good people behind Burn, Baby Burn! another CD mix-swapping system online. They got mefi’d, and they’re referring some of their excess traffic my way.
If I was starting CDMOM again now, I’d probably do it their way (many people send mixes to one another) rather than my current way (many people send mixes to me, and I send mixes to them). It’s likely to be much more scalable when decentralized — sort of a Gnutella vs. Napster argument. (Perhaps I shouldn’t evoke that, since I’d rather not be sued by Big Music anytime soon.)
Comments
21 March | 22:35 | Jennifer
Since I'm not putting the work into it that you do, it's easier for me to say this. I prefer your system. I've done those swaps where it's "peer-to-peer", and I find that getting a return CD is by no means a guarantee.
22 March | 9:33 | billy
I've heard a story about a Ken Follett novel that was left in a hotel lobby in Hong Kong, with instructions to the reader to sign their own name, date and city in the cover, and then read it and leave it in another hotel. The supposed originator ran into the same book several years later, which had been around the world five or six times, been through many hands and several repairs. It may be apocryphal, but I always liked that story.
22 March | 14:04 | josh
I don't mind the work, Jennifer, I just worry that over the long term, people will get sick of getting my music every month. I mean, I do have impeccable taste and all, but still. If there were greater cross-breeding musically, it might be more enjoyable to people.
22 March | 20:16 | Brian
I am worried as the list grows, somewhere along the line, you will run into some sort of postal spending limit mailing out CDs. Unless, of course you being from Texas and all, are a filthy rich oil barron. :)
23 March | 19:25 | ellis
Hmm.. this could be adapted to the Where's George system. A site that you input your book, it spits out a number, you write the url down with the special number (a serial number so to say) and you find out where's has been and who's read it.. and possibly reveiw on that book and etc.. hmm... yes.. I'm insane..
24 March | 14:54 | Jennifer
Perhaps a "Crabwalk" approved swap system then? Kind of like a credit rating, once someone has successfully swapped a couple of times with Josh and shown that they follow through, then open them up to swapping with everyone else directly.
08 June | 23:52 | zip code
More comment please? ;)
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Joshua Benton is the director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, among other things. Before that, he was a staff writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News. (More.)
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