Collecting has not so much become a thing of the past but instead become a bit less necessary. There is such a wealth of music available now with significantly less effort than before. Granted, recorded sound and images don't get online by themselves, but once one person puts it out to the public, millions have access to it. For every one individual who goes out in the field and records someone singing a rare song or playing a melody, there are so many people looking no further than youtube.

It's kind of like when all us old Deadheads meticulously collected and traded live recordings only to have our most obscure gems later released in the Dick's Picks series.

I guess in the long run it's better for the longevity of the music.

Rich