Comments on: Someone Stole Matthew Dear’s Hard Drive While He Was Playing?

By: Create Digital Music » Beyond Mobile Music Making: Organizational Musical Uses for iPhone, Other Smart Devices

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:25:56 +0000

[...] The iPhone is a capable music player, so it can, um, save you when your laptop dies or someone steals your hard drive. It even has video out capability, for you Create Digital Motion [...]

By: Create Digital Music » Monitor Your Audio Drives for Trouble via SMART, Free (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:31:10 +0000

[...] Thereâ€™s no substitute for redundancy and backups (hey, you could be Matthew Dear and have a drive stolen during your set). But it is helpful to know whether a drive is healthy or not. S.M.A.R.T. monitoring features built [...]

By: NI Kore Minisite @ CDM » Monitor Your Audio Drives for Trouble via SMART, Free (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:30:43 +0000

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:08:00 +0000

@Sargint — absolutely, absolutely true. But that’s another reason why data is great, that is, that you can back up this piece of your soul and have it off in the cloud, whereas you can’t back up a Moog. That’s why I’m really encouraged by these online data services. They’re totally essential to a musician, because you don’t have to worry about carrying the backup. Doesn’t excuse this incident — and likely won’t help you through that particular set — but nonetheless, I’m eager to watch those things develop.

By: Sargint Milk

Sargint Milk — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:43:17 +0000

Let’s go beyond the legality of equipment theft. Stealing from another person is a severe breach of humanity, we all know this. Getting past that, there is a difference between having your Moog stolen and having your data stolen. No matter how much you may love your Moog, it is still a piece of machinery. The data is a piece of your soul. It is intangible and there is no way to replace it. There can be no viable path of success in stealing someone’s drive, aside from getting an mp3 folder which is not really a success because the ease of acquiring mp3’s negates theft does it not; the rest is unusable and is pretty much on par with kidnapping. The most lucrative endeavor from stealing Dear’s data, would be to ransom the stuff back. We all know how that ends, so this was clearly the act of an inept criminal, not a savvy businessman carefully thinking things through.

By: digital lofi

digital lofi — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:22:26 +0000

jp is right – not too long ago there was a rash of equipment thefts that got a few touring bands, including Camper Van Beethoven and I believe the Decemberists. Granted, these weren’t at the shows, but I’m sure gear goes missing from live venues across the globe every night – stomp boxes, mics, amps.

People sure can suck.

By: bliss

bliss — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:09:45 +0000

Hmm… I wonder if many of the negative comments to this issue on the Brooklyn Vegan website were made by vegans. Personally, I’ve never associated acoustic instruments and vinyl with milk and cheese. Maybe wine and cheese.

Let this story be a warning to all electronic musicians. Your meaty hard drives are at risk of being abducted and released back into the wild.

By: jp

jp — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:30:24 +0000

i don’t get the whole anit-computer, pro-guitar rhetoric. how many rock bands, both well-known and not – have NOT had their gear stolen at some point? seems to me it happens regardless of the music you play.

By: Jaymis Loveday

Jaymis Loveday — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:06:11 +0000

From the brooklynvegan comments.

how is removing the drive even possible while playing live…he must have been away from his macbook pro long enough for someone to remove the keyboard….unless of course this picture is deceiving and he actually has a macbook with a more easily accessible drive

… Just beautiful.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:53:01 +0000

Wow, bizarre… yeah, I don’t quite understand that, either. I mean, it makes an excellent argument for yodeling — that doesn’t require any equipment at all, even a microphone, so that would certainly be theft-proof. Not clear on their point, other than they hate computer musicians in general.