Locks and MP3s for sale side by side in a Sao Paulo market street. For customers buying digital content from street vendors how to recognize the quality of what is for sale? That it plays? That it contains the correct music? That the metadata is present and accurate? In the way that collectiions are put together?

In the corner of the DVD market stalls below you can (just) spot a portable DVD player – for offering customers previews of movies. For music and in a noisy street environment how can a buyer appreciate what it is they are buying? Currently the quality of music bought in these contexts is largely ‘that the CD-ROM or DVD actually plays’, rather than the quality of the recording, but like with DVD previews its only a matter of time before some form of value added preview is offered. In some Delhi markets its more likely that the music would be burned just-in-time – its already the case with software purchased through the same channels.