Re-Boot

Just for the hell of it I googled Bootlegs to see what would come up, and sure enough there were enough options to fill a thousand CD-R's. The Internet age has made finding bootlegs easier than back in the day. In the late 80's and 90's the only info I could find on them were in Goldmine ads and a regular feature in ICE Magazine. For someone who loves a lot of artists and has a lot of music in my possession, you would think that I would be more interested in bootleg stuff of my faves. But most bootlegs are of live concerts or alternate takes. There have been some legendary ones like the Smile sessions, but I've never been persuaded to seek them out. Record companies and artists tried in vain to combat bootlegs. Remember when Pearl Jam put out a crap load of live discs? And now you have the ongoing Dylan bootleg series. And if you've bought box sets, there's always unreleased stuff on there that's already been bootlegged.

A friend of mine gave me a copy that he downloaded from a torrent site of Mark Knopfler's 7/28/08 concert from Philadelphia. That was only a week ago and already there's a copy of it online, which means the Internet is doing its duty for rabid fans. The sound quality is good, even though the vocals could be up in the mix better, but for a freebie, I'll add it to my collection.
I still have little interest in other bootlegs though. But just knowing that its just around the corner is what stealing music is like today.