QRe: [sdiy] Reprinting Electronotes

[Seb Francis]

Paul Schreiber wrote:

> This may be lost on a younger generation that "just wants to hook stuff up and make funny
> noises". Sadly, most folk seem to be content with that.

Perhaps a bit of a sweeping generalisation.  I wasn't even alive at the time when EN started, so I guess I'm one of these "younger generation".  But personally (although I like to hook stuff up and make funny noises just as much as the next person), I love to understand how the stuff actually works - not least so I can make my own creations tailored to the "funny noises" I want to make.

However, there must be very few of us who don't "just hook stuff up".  Who needs to consider the theory of how elecrons work in a transistor, to use an opamp in the design of a synth module?  There are certainly advantages in knowing things right down to the minutest level of detail, but for me life's too short - I have too much music to make to spend my whole life studying electronics.  No one person can do/understand everything .. we all stand on the shoulders of previous knowledge.

Who knows, perhaps some of the HSUAMFN*  generation are the ones making the best noises .. and of course those noise are only possible because someone a long time ago took the time to discover electricity.
*hook stuff up and make funny noises

>
>
> In the Napster-impregnated mindset, everything is supposted to be free. People who own the IP
> rights are rich anyway/don't need the money/who cares/etc and in Bernie's case he in fact does
> NOT own any material rights prior to Jan 1, 1980.

>
> However, just because you CAN do something (put it all on a website) doesn't mean you SHOULD do
> something.

Sure, everyone needs to get paid .. that's basic survival stuff.  And I absolutely respect that this (mostly likely small) amount of money which Bernie makes from EN is his survival stuff.

However, it is also wonderful that today people can afford to and do give up their time and energy to put out information for free on the internet.  Never before has knowledge been so accessible.  Thanks to the good people in the sdiy community I have learnt so much stuff.  Hopefully this knowledge will help me to make better funny noises which can in turn give pleasure to other people who perhaps only know how to hook up a needle to a record player.

Seb (who will probably buy a set of EN one day, and probably would have done so already if it had been more convenient to purchase one)


P.S. Here's an FAQ from the EN site (hopefully it's ok to reproduce this excerpt in this email ;-0)

Q: Can I put up Electronotes material on my site?

A: We have, at times, gotten a bad rap for supposedly not allowing people to post our material. In actual fact, we never denied material to anyone who asked and would agree to a few simple conditions which were, in essence:

1. The material had to acknowledge the source as Electronotes and to list all the contributors accurately.
2. The pages had to lead back to us for those interested in purchasing more.
3. We had to see, review, and correct any material to be put up, and quite possibly, to comment on it as to updates and so on.

Almost universally, people did not ask. What was most annoying were postings that seemed to deliberately (or by omission) suggest that the poster was the original source, which brought us no business (and at times, said that we were no longer in business!), and which had errors and misconceptions added in an authoritative voice. Happily, many of these offenders have gone on to "other pursuits" or perhaps the Internet has just become a place where more courtesy and integrity is expected.