I’m a bit behind on my reading at the moment – hence why the article linked is dated January 19th – but I couldn’t resist sharing this one. It’s all about the home taping revolution of the 1980s and how it infuriated the music industry at the time.

I didn’t actually know that Lord Sugar had his finger in this particular pie. Frankly, he could open a shop with all the pies he’s been involved with. But I bet the music industry would happily have home taping back at a stroke with the benefit of hindsight.

The quality of tape deteriorates every single time you use it. It’s slow, but it’s noticeable over a longer period of time. Only so many copies could be made and they would have been much more restricted in how far they could distribute their bootleg tapes. Digital suffers from no such deterioration and the distribution is potentially global, in comparison.

Still, I won’t have a word said against the humble cassette. It’s how I learnt the very basics of DJ mixing. No attempts at those aurally diabolical “mixes” survive in existence, mercifully, but the foundations were laid there…