Table 8b looks at these same data in a slightly different way. Here it can be seen that 11% of the population (7+4) have taped at least one complete album during the survey year and 15% (7+8) have taped at least one selection. More important, Table 8b indicates that more hours are spent taping selections (56%) than taping complete albums (44%). This means that those who tape both albums and selections spend more of their time taping selections than taping complete albums. These are important findings since they point out that a complete analysis of home taping must focus at least as much upon selection tapers as upon complete album tapers. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case: most attention has been directed at the taping of complete albums. This concern with the home taping of complete albums has led some observers to overlook the 15.4 million music tapers who tape only selections or excerpts from albums. . F. Reasons for Taping All album and/or selection tapers were given a list of 14 reasons "for taping music and other professional entertainment that they could have bought as records or prerecorded tapes." They were asked to identify all the reasons why they had taped during the past 12 months and then to choose the one reason for which they taped most often. Table 9 gives the percent of current album and/or selection tapers mentioning each as a reason they taped at least once, as well as the percent who mentioned each as the reason they taped most often. Perhaps not surprising, the primary reason for home taping is to avoid buying prerecorded product. More specifically, 45% of the album and/or selection tapers said they had made at least one recording so that they "didn't have to buy it," and 25% gave this as the reason they taped most often. The other major reasons for taping most often were: to make a copy for car or office (17%); because I enjoy creating my own programs (11%); because taping is fun (9%) and because tapes are easier and more convenient to use than records (9%). Taken together, these 5 reasons explain why 71% of album and/or selection tapers tape most often. Considering reasons for taping at least once during the survey year, it can be seen that, although in a slightly different order, these same five reasons are mentioned most frequently. Three other points can be made about Table 9. First, although it has often been argued that a great deal of home taping occurs because of the poor quality of prerecorded tapes, note that only 10% of tapers made a recording for this reason and only 3% said they taped most often in order to "get a better quality recording than is available on prerecorded tapes." A different type of quality does arise as the sixth most important reason for taping. That is, 18% of the album and/or selection tapers have made at least one recording to preserve the quality of their records, while 8% said this was the reason they taped most often. Second, it can be seen that more than twice as many people taped because of the lack of availability of prerecorded tapes than because of the poor quality of those tapes. For example, in contrast to the 3% who said they record most often because of the poor quality of prerecorded tapes, 7% said they record most often because a prerecorded tape is not available. Finally, it must be realized that the findings in Table 9 are based on all current album and/or selection tapers and therefore do not show important differences among those who only tape albums, those who only tape selections and those who tape both. For example, while 27% of album only tapers said they taped most often to make a copy for their car or office, only 10% of selection only tapers gave this as their reason for taping most often. Similarly, while 20% of album only tapers said they have made at least one recording to preserve the quality of their records, this is true for only 11% of those people who tape only selections. A complete discussion of the differences among these three types of tapers is beyond the scope of the present report. |