Are we apathetic?

The increased level of access to music has made people realise how much they're missing as well as how much more they can gain. It's a fine balance but I've become almost intimidated by some genres as they've developed in tandem with my own age. I put it down to that rather than 'things being easier makes people take it for granted' although there may still be some element of truth in that.

But because of the sheer volume of what's out there and how readily it can be accessed, this actually works in preserving that sense of excitement when you do actually find something special. For example, I spent a good hour or so listening to stuff on bleep.com before Ryan Teague's 'Prelude 1' stopped me in my tracks (and to hear that performed live would be brilliant). I would never have heard this track any other way. This also applies to the growth of music TV channels - better interactivity has helped in enabling people to find stuff for themselves rather than just chance upon something as dictated by another's (or a computer's) scheduling. Interactive/on-demand TV is now one of the main ways I hear/see new music I like e.g. Rhymefest's new single - but then I never listen to radio at the moment. I'm convinced these technologies have made things more good than bad re music appreciation.

My guess: Dr. North's research was sponsored by the recording industry ("downloading bad") but personally, he's a classical music elitist ("19th century good").

I guess I'm saying that Dr. North is a classicist. :-)

I heard a historian the other day on NPR talking about how before recorded music, pieces of music were much more connected to their social functions -- you listened to dance music at a dance. You heard seasonal pieces performed during their season. You couldn't, as this guy put it, take a Bach Mass and listen to it in the bathtub on a Wednesday morning.

Bachist?