As a member in good standing of a world-wide community of Collectors, Researchers, Historians, and Caretakers of our collective audio history, I find myself saddened by the efforts of many a 'dealer'' to take advantage of a growing population of collectors worldwide, who have not yet found cost-free, abundant sources of material to add to their collections.
I am referring to Old-Tyme Radio Shows (OTR) sold in MP3 format.
The simple truths of the matter are as follows:
1. The 'public-domain' nature of ALL of these shows is a debatable point, which has never been settled legally. We who collect these shows are extremely fortunate that those who could make a legitimate claim to copyright ownership of portions of these shows have not put such claims to the full test of the courts.
2. Many of these dealers of 'rare', and 'hard to find' shows are selling the collections they have acquired from OTHER COLLECTORS, as well as publicly accessible sources. This has been a HUGE bone of contention among serious collectors, who are reluctant to trade truly rare material because of this.
3. There are HUGE networks of collectors who are happily willing to share collections of high-quality material that the 'dealers' never sell. Such material will astound you with its richness of sound, and sheer quantity.
Those collectors out there who have not yet experienced this vast array of material have several options:
If you have a usenet newsgroup reader, you may do a search in the list of available groups under OTR, radio, old-time radio, etc.
Type 'OTR', 'old time radio', etc., into any Internet Search Engine.
Go to http://www.archive.org and type 'OTR' or 'Old time Radio' into the search engine.
Best of all, join one of several groups dedicated to OTR, such as:
The Old-Time Radio Researcher's Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OldTimeRadioResearchersGroup/?yguid=216038107
OTR Personal Collection: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OTR_Personal_Collection/?yguid=216038107
Having said all that, I must point out the number of people who deal in Radio shows on Audio tape. THESE are the true treasures of the OTR field, and their business should be encouraged by all
It has just been brought to my attention that a pay FTP site has purchased
the following names -
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHERSGROUP.COM
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHERSGROUP.NET
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHERSGROUP.ORG
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHGROUP.COM
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHGROUP.NET
OLDTIMERADIORESEARCHGROUP.ORG
Putting any of those names into the internet window will take you to a pay
FTP site run by a person who was tossed out of the group some time ago for
selling not only otr, but OTRR certified series as well.
Evidently this is his way of 'getting' revenge on the OTRR Group. I understand that
most of the old time radio programs he is now selling on his site were
downloaded from a reputable site.
Please beware of this and if you are in another group, advise them that the
above sites have nothing to do with The Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
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