VCR & Walkman Flashcards
Production of consumption
Frankfurt school - during the rise of fascism and saw the control media had on people
Very critical of capitalism
Media on making us consume things
Cultural Studies
Williams and Hoggart
Teaching adult education
How media and entertainment allow us to live lives
Identity
Stuart hall
Identity influences the way you interact with media
Interpret media differently
Resistance
Media consumers do not just interpret media differently; they can resist
They are interacting with media, not just passive
Subcultures
Formation of groups of people who share values and norms that differ from the majority of society
Fans
Jenkins
The majority of the way people interact with media
We make it our own
Discovision
Invented in the early 1970s and was created by MCA
It was before VHS
It didn’t do well due to it being expensive to produce
MCA also tried to exploit it in a way, but it didn’t license it broadly
Shows how the closed system fails
Sony Betamax
1975-76
Can pre-order tape and have to record the things themselves
Can’t record a whole movie
Controlled by Sony, a closed system
Higher quality than VHS, yet VHS wins due to it being an open system
Sony v Universal
1979
Universal sues Sony Betamax
Universal made the biggest shows at the time
Universal saw that Betamax disrupted the television industry with advertising since it broke the model of TV
Disney signed with Universal for the case; the rest of the studios wanted to see what happened with VHS
Universal and Disney say it is illegal to record and sell a copy of the show
Mr.Rodger testifies that it is for the public good
Fair use- can you copy something in its entirety (time-shifting)
Inducement- maybe Sony is inducing people to do something illegal
Encourage people to record
Decision: Recording is fair use, and Sony is not held responsible for illegal uses of the consumer
When the case started, only few people had VCRs, but by the time of the case, more people had VCRs
Most people used VCRs for renting instead of recording them through TV
Revue
Played a part in the Universal v Sony
On the side of Universal with Disney
Technological Protection Measures (DRM)
Sony says that a code will tell you if you had permission to record the show or not
Doesn’t work
Contributory infringement
Companies can sell you something that has legal and illegal uses, and the manufacturer does not have responsibility for the illegal uses
Significant non-infringing uses
Sandra Day O’Connor
She changed her vote at the last minute in the Supreme Court case of Sony v Universal (are you allowed to fast-forward commercials and record?)
Flips the court’s decision
The fast-forward button wouldn’t exist without her
Time-shifting
Allows you to copy (record) something in its entirety
If you want people to be well-informed citizens then they need to be able to view things they missed by recording it with the VHS
Sell through
Hollywood started to sell home videos at very high prices
Made it difficult for home video business
Then, they started to sell them inexpensively and directly to people and surpassed video stores
E.T.
First time Hollywood sold to the consumers directly through sell through
Informal Distribution
Piracy or
Underground
Markets not addressed
Circumvent censorship
Diasporic video audiences
Selling videos in an informal matter, which can be viewed differently
Iran
1970s - Ayatollah Khomeini in exile
1979 Revolution
1983 ban on home video in
Impossible to detect/enforce
The video continues to circulate
1994- ban on home video lifted
It hasn’t changed much since everyone was using either way
Ayatollah Khomeni
Shah was taken over by Ayatollah
Takes over the Iranian revolution
VCDs
Video Compact Discs, which were a popular format for storing and playing video content on a dedicated player, were similar to DVDs but with lower quality and were widely used in Iran before the widespread adoption of digital streaming services.
Myanmar
Lack of censorship in 2011, still strict censorship board
Very few townhouses had a studio and distributed VCDs video
Mobile Privatization
Mobile media allows you to take it with you and go wherever you want
Can travel the world and always stay in your bubble
Walkman
It was released in 1979 by Sony
They create something new and different
They were nervous about selling something that is all about isolation
Advertise by what it is (connector), why you need it, fashion
Fear of being too isolating- had two jacks to show it could be used by two people and not only one person
It can connect people but then changes that it can isolate you from the environment (mobile privatization), allowing it to be just you and the music (can have your world-mobile privatization)
It becomes a fashion statement and part of your identity
iPod
Successor of the Walkman
Steve Jobs- tweaker
Not the first MP3 player
Advertise as having 1000 songs in your pocket - what made it different
Why it exists- think different, listen different the scroll wheel - allows you to get through a lot of music rapidly
Gives power to the people
You- iPod start to have color, fashion accessories, telling people who you are
Now, you don’t just curate what you listen to and where you listen to it, and it tells about a person’s identity
Rip Mix Burn
Space shifting
Take music off the your CD to your iPod
Rip it off the internet, mix it any way you want, and burn it onto a CD, which can then be placed (transferred) on an iPod
