Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture

Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture [With CD] by Paul D. Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is probably better in theory than practice. It gathers essays from such a wide range of people that I'm not sure it successfully portrays any one thing. There are DJs, composers, current artists, classical conductors, authors, among others, all contributing to this idea of sampling digital music and culture. Some are academic, some are interview-based, and some are farther out there.

The best essay in the book is The Ecstasy of Influence by Jonathan Lethem, which can also be found in his own book of essays. Keep reading until the punch line.

"Copyright is an ongoing social negotiation, tenuously forged, endlessly revised, and imperfect in its every incarnation."

"Active reading is an impertinent raid on the literary preserve. Readers are like nomads, poaching their way across fields they do not own,"
-Jonathan Lethem

I also really enjoyed "Quantum Improvisation" by Pauline Oliveros. As always, Oliveros focuses on the possibilities. What will be the limitations of technology? She imagines a world where all her improvisational technology dreams could come true.