Ron - it's not a 'gripe'! My disagreement is with the use of the word 'folk' to refer to music which I don't think can be defined as 'folk'.

Banjiman - the thing is, in some ways I don't think people have changed
all that much. People like music while they work - and when there weren't any radios, they couldn't listen to the radio. People like music to relax with - and when there weren't any CDs, they couldn't put a CD on. People like to hear new songs - and when the only way to buy a brand new song was on a sheet of paper, they couldn't hear a new song without singing it. It all adds up to music being performed a lot more often, in a lot more places, by a lot more people.