“People today enjoy music more than ever before, and, they like to take it with them wherever they go. THEY CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AUDIO AND BAD AUDIO . . . THEY CARE ABOUT THAT DIFFERENCE, AND THEY ARE WILLING TO GO TO SOME TROUBLE AND EXPENSE TO HAVE HIGH QUALITY ‘PORTABLE AUDIO’ TO USE AS ‘WALLPAPER FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE’.”
Sounds like it could have been written today but it’s from a 1983 “PROPOSAL FOR A SYSTEM TO REPLACE ORDINARY RECORD MERCHANDISING” written by musician and innovator Frank Zappa. Just imagine the havoc if he’d patented any of this.
(via Good Morning Silicon Valley, now in blog format, which describes the essay as “Frank Zappa invents Rhapsody, Napster in 1983.” Add Yahoo to the list.)
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