Media Assignment

1. Make a chart of the qualities listed below for eight music formats. You may add some on your own, but use at least five listed below.
2. Look at your chart in search of trends across time or across formats with similar properties with regard to how they correspond with different kinds of music listening or music making. List three observations highlighted in your chart.
3. For one of the computer-based formats listed above, consider a producer we’ve studied this semester and his values/goals, and imagine how he might make the most of the computer-based medium to pursue his values/goals. (Note: it may not be helpful to look at what these producers are doing today; their values/goals have likely changed since the times in heck we studied them.)
4. Do the same for another format not listed above that is common today or looks promising for the near future.

Formats:

• Single (disc or tape)
• Audiocassette
• LP phonograph
• 8-track tape
• Compact Disc
• MiniDisc
• Internet store downloads
• Radio (AM/FM/Satellite)
• Pandora/Slacker/Last.fm, etc.
• Music video
• Discotheque/Club

Qualities:

• Common in which decades?
• 1 or 2 sides?
• Cost/How you pay for it?
• Limitations to quality
• Symptoms of damage
• Extraneous noises from operation
• Random track access?
• Easy to record?
• Any extra media included with a purchase
• Limitations to usability
• Unique capabilities
• Methods of discovering new music
• Styles/forms of music best suited for it