Music has been mechanized and commodified. These two processes are really one. Music can become available as a commodity only if there is a sophisticated and reliable machinery that will produce it at the consumer's will. We may call the conjunction of machinery and commodity a technological device. The stereo as a device contrasts with the instrument as a thing. A thing, in the sense in which I want to use the term, has an intelligible and accessible character and calls forth skilled and active human engagement. A thing requires practice while a device invites consumption.

-- Albert Borgmann

The emergence of these modes of creativity has blurred the borders between musician and audience, and between artist and spectator. Whether we focus on the intellectual property issues, or on the merits of participation in music and art, our prescriptions for the future should reflect the changes before our eyes and ears. The limits and possibilities suggested by these world-wide instruments may be a good starting point for evaluating the cultural and technological moment.