Just thinking about how the Internet has changed being a Prince fan for me, and was curious about the thoughts of you all. I came up with a quick list of pros and cons:

Pros:
1) The "Freeing" of the music - The web has made having access to Prince's unreleased material, live recordings etc, much easier, and it has allowed me, someone who didn't live near a major city, a wealth of info and connections that I would never have otherwise.

2) Daily News - I think we forget how it used to be, just waiting for monthly magazines for tidbits and rumors. I get impatient now when there's a two day drought! Setlists, concert stuff, recordings, sightings etc.. It's so great to have beamed right into your room (even if 90 percent of it turns out to be false!

3) Community - Especially in the last few years, it's great to be able to connect with people who share my passion of Prince and his eventful career. It's almost impossible to talk to someone in person about Prince anymore without getting laughs.

Cons:
1) The "Spoilers" - Pre-Web, part of the fun of getting an album on release day, was that often you had so little info about it; there was a mystique and an excitment surrounding every release. The way all music is leaked out nowadays, buying an album is just a formality anymore. I think it also serves to taint or genuine impression of new music, as we've already heard a million opinions.

2) The "Haters" - I think being able to type your thoughts to strangers instead of speak them has led us to exchange much more hateful and negative talk than we would ever do so in person. Also, if two people were walking down the street having a conversation about Prince, they never had to deal with someone walking up and saying,"Hey you two are morons -it ain't half as good as the version I have on MP3 that you'll never hear!" It happens automatically now when any two people post and reply(Which leads me too...)

3) The Elite Fan Syndrome - Sometimes the fan community can be helpful and supportive, but often it becomes a place for people to try and show their "betterness"; their fan superiority. The,"I have more versions of this song than you... I've been a fan longer than you... I know more URLs than you do" Syndrome... (We all know who these people are!)

Overall though, I find that the ammount of information, access to"new" music, and the sense of community is worth the trade-off of a relatively few negative people and a feeling that "I see the Wizard behind the curtain."regarding offcial releases.

I welcome your thoughts and additons to this list.

Peace,
Jpav

definitely good

the best thing that ever happened to Prince was the internet...

There was good things and bad things before the internet. But I definatley think the good outweighs the bad in this case. I get to talk to people from different countries about Prince and we also get kept up to date with what's happening.
It's all good.

OK, so your point is that you'd rather not hear you're a moron?

The thing that I learned here is that I can be annoyed with Prince fanatics HERE as I can be at concerts.

But I also met some kel peeps here. People I am sure to meet and make the entire Prince MUSICAL experience even more worth while.

Not if they don't have a computer, lol, which actually applies to the majority of people in the UK.

As for me, I have no idea how to download music, have a slow connection and have no soundcard anyway, lol. But Im sure its OK if you have a decent PC.

I would say... Internet would makes being a Prince fan alot cheaper!

Look at all the boots circulating... you don't wanna buy them!

Well, I thought I was obsessed before I saw this site. The knowledge some of Prince's fans have about the specific details of his recordings is astonishing. So the internet has put things in perspective. But it has also opened up a great reservoir of unreleased material that has been a source of immense enjoyment for me. For that reason I can only be grateful that the internet came along.
[This message was edited Tue Dec 17 2:56:30 PST 2002 by fairmoan]

i hate the sad psyco fuckers in here that live and breath for him,u know who ur !!

The internet has definitely helped. All of the "cons" referenced in your piece can be managed: Don't take advantage of spoilers, ignore haters or send private e-mails to hold a conversation, screw the "elite" among us... if they were, in fact, that much better than the rest of us, they'd likely be off recording with Prince rather than discussing him on the Internet.

Idiots are everywhere. Don't let them ruin your good time.

2002 = 13*800Mb of download !!!(4me)

I like reading old articles and interviews on Prince. All
the rare pictures and fansites. The best thing however is
just to communicate to others about how much I like the
music.I can't do that with anyone.No one.Only on the internet. Being a Prince fan is tough.

Biscuit said:

I have to agree with you, Biscuit. Prince fans/fams are a dime a dozen. There aren't many people who have kept up with his whole career musically. Online, you can share these things, highs and lows, with people of the same mind. Ain't no worshippin' goin' on here...there is just an enjoyment of what he delivers musically, the nuances in the music, etc. I'm very happy to participate in this experience

Tina (~!~)

Very good for me. I can learn about TV appearances way ahead of time. If I didn't have the internet I would have never known about the Live CD that's due out today. For there were no promotional commericals or anything like it was for TRC. Internet is the best thang that could have ever happened.

craigle said:

hey! I'm a sad psycho fucker, why do you hate me?

craigle said:

sssh...
Don't tell anyone. I'm trying to hide my sad psyco fucker tendencies but they keep sneaking out.
It seems my true feelings have been revealed
Damm!

I think Communication is better but I think the Musical Aspect doesn't have the same Mystery because everything is so ready&available nowadays.take the Black Album:if you had the Net back then then it wouldn't have had the same Mystery as it did with Word of Mouth.also Outtakes,Boots&B-Sides would have been easier too get so from that Perspective it has it's up side.

The internet as a Prince fan was like taking the blue pill in the Matrix.