Tapan writes about how mp3s have replaced audio cassettes, allowing everybody to become a rock fan in a week. (That’s something I’ve noticed these days; everybody has huge music collections, nobody listens to them.) He remembers his days of hunting down audio cassettes

The music store guys would hardly ever have heard of them, and would greet you with their friendliest blank stares when asked where the Slayer/Megadeth albums were. So it was all up to you…digging through all the lowermost shelves, squatting down till you felt that the ‘mungees’ that you were getting in your feet were dancing at a rave party, and then finally hitting pay dirt.

and the sense of ownership that came with it. I became really interested in music quite late and had to hunt cassettes down only for a year or two but even with the internet, there is certain joy in the hunt once one has heard all the easily available songs. Maybe Limewire will take that away too.