“For the most part ... [collections] I’ve browsed share the same 800- or 900-song collection of late 90s teen pop and prescribed 60s and 70s rock classics,” Nicholas B. Sylvester ’04 wrote in an e-mail. “Which is not surprising: keep in mind that there were 1800 people who paid to see Guster, and most of them probably enjoyed the show. All this is to say Harvard students’ musical taste is very underdeveloped and homogenous and I don’t see iTunes sharing being nearly the vehicle of musical exploration it could or should be.”
Perhaps iTunes’ most significant contribution lies in its permanent alteration of the music-sharing culture. As emphasis shifts away from downloading, expanding one’s own personal library becomes no longer the point. As Lessin, who says he’s deleted KaZaA—another music sharing program which required downloading—points out, “I can just find whatever I want through other people at school.”
—Crimson staff writer Steven N. Jacobs can be reached at
snjacobs@fas.harvard.edu.