Originally Posted by Goldie Wilson

I understand your point here, but in completely eliminating theater going, you cut out all the amazing things about the shared experience, too. I savor the whole theater ordeal -- it's a chance to get outside of your head and enjoy the ritual of it all. When you laugh at a brilliant joke by yourself at home, it's not the same as laughing at the same time as 100 people. The same thing goes for a shocking scare, or an emotional moment. The scope of the screen and presence of all those other people has a quality that doesn't translate to the small screen. And yeah, you run the risk of some talking kids or jerks on their phones, but if we're being honest doesn't that account for a tiny percentage of our actual movie-going encounters, and those are just the ones we focus on? I just think of it as the risk of human interaction and move on to enjoying myself.

My main worry about the "download culture" is that when we have everything available at our fingertips, easy, and (in many cases) free, it all becomes so...devalued. Now, at the risk of sounding REALLY old fashioned (I'm ONLY 26, yikes) I think there is a sense of ritual to the old process of going to the store and spending money for an item that you are going to enjoy. You had to interact with people: talk to the guy or girl at the record store about the new albums coming out this week, or a great show you were just at. You had the aforementioned shared laughs and shrieks with the audience at the movies.

I tend to look at downloading a different way -- not as a vote against a tyrannical and out of touch mega-industry, but as a vote against the independent record stores and movie theaters that are struggling in this economy as it is. (This is when the small business owner in me comes out full force.) I just can't help but see a really, really fine line between crusader against corporate injustice and person who wants things for free. It just gets so disheartening to talk to friends who have hard drives full of downloaded music and then tell me, "but I support them by going to see their shows!" Eh, I'd be one thing if they did, but going out to see a show every 6 months doesn't help help as much as you think.

I think "sampling," as a few of your brought up, is a great middle ground. There are all kinds of music blogs out there. NPR, Pitchfork, countless record lables have been streaming whole albums. Hell, youtube has plenty of music on it. The same thing goes for movies -- it's becoming more of a common practice for studios to put the first 10 minutes of a movie up for preview. But, when I make my decision, I BUY, and BUY LOCAL.