Scary stories about slot machines, as told by anthropologist Natasha Schull.

"At night while her husband was asleep, she would drive to the supermarket and play until dawn at these machines."

What you always wanted to know about the random number generator but were too afraid to ask. Plus, some crazy stories about addiction, escapism, and the early days of email.

Hear the complete, 5 minute audio online here.

Natasha Schull is hard at work on her new book. It's an ethnography of gamblers and game designers that will make huge waves in academia.

Production notes: These are basically the outtakes of a conversation Natasha and I had at WNYC's Studio 360, where I am working on an upcoming feature about slot machines. Derek John was the engineer. Background music: Send and Receive (Chachi Jones Remix) by Tycho, and Track 36 from the soundtrack of Synecdoche, New York.

Labels: audio, technology

When the record companies sent Jared an email asking for three thousand dollars for music he'd downloaded online, he was dumbstruck. He didn’t have that kind of money. And he definitely didn't have time to go to court.

Someone suggested I start selling illegal pirated music and movies. Pornography. They’re like 'well they’ve accused you of doing it so why don’t you do it?' I was like, uh, maybe.

He actually ended up using facebook to ask people for money. And it worked. Big time. Which proves that social networking sites are good for more than just poking. Listen to the whole radio story to find out which songs they accused him of downloading, how he paid up, and how you can avoid his fate.



Click here for a list of lawyers defending against RIAA lawsuits.

Music and sound in this piece come from Magnatune.com and the FreeSound project.

Labels: audio, college, technology