700 years worth of shows

One of our favorite retirees back in the States showed us his collection of old radio shows.

Then he smiled and said: "I calculated that I would need to listen to them for 700 years straight to listen to all of them."

Another friend has a house full of vinyl records. We mean, a house full. About 500 000 of them.

Neither of them is crazy, to the contrary, so don't expect an expose on digital hoarding or hoarding plain and simple. 

We do mention them every now and then when there is yet another copyright abuse/pirate debate to make a point.

The point being that human beings have a very limited amount of time, and we bet that Susan B. Anthony dollar (minus shipping and handling) that 90% of all that copied - oxymoron alert - "intellectual property" sits in a corner, gathering dust or gathering whatever the digital equivalent of dust is.

Sure, average lifespans have been inching up but, short of immortality, you will never be able to read all the books, watch all the movies, or listen to all the music or those old radio shows.

Humans have tried to extend their waking hours by all kinds of means, from tea and coffee to meth. Just watch that BBC documentary about the meth capital of the U.S., which apparently is Fresno, CA.

Having to wait 100 years before you can legally make a copy of that DVD is a bit of a stretch, even Catholics don't come with that kind of deferred gratification stamina.

In the cacophony of the modern world, don't we have this phrase "time is money"?  When we buy a product, we give someone money but also time.
Isn't this why we feel cheated when we try to get a customer service person on the phone and then have to listen to Greensleeves or For Elise for half an hour?

You can return a bag of pasta, no questions asked. Cannot be copied yet. But I will work on making pasta in a 3 D printer. Same for a car, although some people are clamoring for an exception if that car is sold to China.

Why does Netflix work? Because you won't feel bad if you watch trash for a whole evening when you pay 10 or 12 dollars a month.

Why do you pay too much for Apple hardware and iTunes? Because your time is as much of a luxury item as an iPhone. You can spend more because you expect to get that promotion over the Android guy -- heads or tails?