What is the Tape Trade Centre?
The Tape Trade Centre (TTC) is an international Internet service aimed towards people
who want to share music with others. It has been online since 1997 or 1998.
As of November 2001, it has moved,
switched webmaster and been rewritten from scratch, but it remains a
completely free, non-commercial service. We're only in
it for the love of music!
The Tape Trade Centre has more than 1,800 members, and its database
contains nearly 49,000 records. It's growing constantly; in November 2001, the total number of records was just over 30,000.
How does it work?
The idea behind the TTC goes something like this: You create an account
(it takes less than a minute) and submit your record collection. As of
April '02, you can also import your record collection from
skivsamling.nu. Your
records go into the TTC's constantly growing database, which is open and
searchable by all TTC members.
If you find something of interest while another users's records, you just
press a button and the TTC does the rest; an e-mail is sent to
that member, containing the records you requested from her/him, as well as
your own record collection in its full glory.
Yes, now you see where it all leads to. From this point on you're left
to your own devices -- you and the other TTC member make all the trading
arrangements via ordinary, private e-mail. All the TTC did was to make it
a hell of a lot easier for you to find each other and get started.
What is the TTC not?
The TTC is mere infrastructure.
That is, we do not supply the music, so, if you came
here looking for MP3 files -- sorry. What the TTC does, is that it offers
a nice and simple way for people to exchange music with each other.
Think of it as a match making service for music lovers.
Besides that, the TTC is not aimed towards people who, for some reason, find it interesting to collect a gazillion DAT tapes of Phish & Grateful Dead shows. There are enough websites for you guys already. This one is meant for -- and primarily used for -- discovering music rather than collecting it.
Piracy issues
The TTC is in no way designed to simplify illegal mass copying of music.
On the contrary -- the TTC would be a very bad choice of medium for that
purpose. The TTC is designed strictly for person-to-person trading, on a
private and friendly basis.
The TTC is not an illegal service, but some actions
carried out with the aid of the TTC may still be illegal, depending on which
country you live in. According to the former webmaster, "in Sweden
(where this server is located), tapetrading is completely legal due to
the loss of audio quality. Trading of other medias is allowed, when
trading with family members or close friends."
Also, if you're living in the USA, your law clearly states:
No action may be brought under this title alleging infringement of copyright based on the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a digital audio recording device, a digital audio recording medium, an analog recording device, or an analog recording medium, or based on the noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings. See for
yourself if you like, it's right here.
It's common sense that the TTC can't be held responsible if its members
decide to make a choice of trading media that is illegal in their home
countries -- we can't keep track on all the copyright laws in the world,
let alone force you to follow them. All we can do is rely on your good
conscience.
My personal opinion is that this service may actually
help the record industry -- for those of you who are
concerned with that. I can think of dozens of records I probably wouldn't
have bought if I hadn't had the opportunity to explore that particular
artist for free.
And don't shoot the messenger.
Who are you?
I'm the guy who wrote this new version of TTC. My name is Robert K Huselius,
I live in Sweden and my username on TTC is "Klaatu".
Don't hesitate to mail me (klaatu at gnarf dot org)
with any questions, comments, etc.
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