FREE RIDE How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back

Byron Wagner’s performance of this complex yet fascinating discussion of digital piracy, privacy rights, creativity, and copyright law is workmanlike and straightforward. However, his singular tone and unwavering inflection do nothing to motivate the listener to focus on these involved, arcane topics. Levine comes down on the side of giant entertainment corporations that believe that nearly all world citizens with the access would routinely and boldly steal copyrighted intellectual property from file-sharing Internet sites and similar portals. Wagner’s simplistic and unadorned presentation style does not help the listener arrive at an answer to the question as to whether the culture business can survive our digital times. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2012]