Tape Tree Primer

["Midnight Rider" <richl@dfw.net>]

Hey y'all ... here's a quick primer on tape trees in light of the 
about-to-be-posted first-ever tape tree on the Who list!

The tree is set up; I'm just waiting to get branch tapes finalized 
and mailed (or nearly so) before posting so everyone isn't sitting 
around waiting on tapes.

Basically a tape tree is an organized way to share otherwise 
unavailable music.  It starts with a "seed" source that is hopefully 
of high enough quality sound to carry into multiple "generations" of 
dubbed copies.

A tape tree requires an administrator (yours truly, in this case), 
who takes the seed, solicits help in dubbing, keeps track of who 
wants a copy, and organizes the structure of the tree.  "Branch
Leaders" are volunteers who agree to provide copies of their copy
to assigned "leaves".  The structure looks something like this:

Seed
   Branch 1
      Leaf
      Leaf
      Leaf
   Branch 2
      Leaf
      Leaf
      Leaf
   Branch 3
      Leaf
      Leaf
      Leaf

Once the tree structure is posted, leaves can contact their branch 
leader and arrange to get a copy of the show.  Trading is preferred, 
but if a leaf has nothing to trade or nothing the branch leader 
wants, a copy can be obtained by mailing a blank tape (of equal 
quality to the copy you'll get back) and return postage to the branch 
leader.  Postage is paid by each party in trades, but paid both ways 
by the leaf in blank dubs; this seems only fair as the branch leader 
is dubbing the tape(s) for free rather than getting something (like a 
show) in return.

Note:  Although some folks trade 2-for-1 in blank dubs (a leaf would 
have to send two blanks to get one dubbed tape back), I don't believe 
in profit on tape trading/dubbing.  It's about sharing the music, 
nothing else.

That's it in a nutshell.  The main things to remember are:

1)  IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LEAF TO CONTACT THE BRANCH.
     Some branch leaders do contact leaves to lay down trading rules, 
     etc., but if not don't be shy ... send an email.  Send your 
     trade list if you have one and save your branch from asking.

2)  TRY TO BE AS PROMPT AS POSSIBLE.
      This applies to branch leaders in getting dubs out quickly, but 
      also to leaves.  If you're going to send blanks, send them!  
      Don't wait a month and then ask your branch leader if you
      can get a copy.  If he's a nice guy he'll do it, but he'll 
      appreciate you a lot more if you send them immediately.

3)  THANK YOUR SEEDER PROFUSELY!
      Small tokens of appreciation are accepted ...  ;>

Rich

richl@dfw.net
"everybody knows this is nowhere"  ... Neil Young