The beat goes on: The future of the digital music revolution

We have seen that, generally speaking, the music industry is slow to embrace new music formats. Radio allowed people to listen to music for free without having to buy a record, cassette tapes allowed listeners to copy tapes or record songs directly from the radio, CD burners allowed us to make high-quality copies of our favorite songs and albums, and digital music online allowed us to share and swap files, which increased music piracy considerably. With all of these technological advancements, the music industry has voiced concern over illegal copying of music effecting its profits. So no matter what direction the music industry takes in the future, chances are the record labels will be unhappy about it.

But what will the future of music be? It's impossible to know for sure, but here are some predictions:

1. Digital music formats will continue to dominate the industry. Because digital music sales have been so incredibly popular, it is unlikely that we will see a shift from the online distribution of music anytime soon. The music industry is generally slow to adapt to new technology, so once it fully embraces iTunes and other online distributors, it will be a long time before we see another format dominate the industry.

2. Digital music will become even more mobile. With the wide availability of wireless Internet access, digital music players will have the ability to download songs. Right now, iPod users have to download songs on their computer and then upload them to their iPod. Future generations of the iPod will no doubt include wireless access so that users can browse and purchase music from the iTunes Store anywhere. This technology would also allow users to wirelessly network to their computers to download or upload files without having to connect through the computer's USB port.

3. Convergence will continue. The popularity of games like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" has shown us that video gamers are crazy about music, and that the music industry can work with other industries to distribute music. This is a trend that we will likely see continue in the future. With digital TV, the music industry could work with TV producers to include information about particular songs that appear in TV shows and commercials so that viewers can find and download them. Viewers could eventually download music directly from their televisions and upload them to their iPods or computers.

4. The decline of iTunes. Right now, Apple's dominance on the digital music industry is unparalleled. But that could change. So far, Apple has been quick to adapt to an industry that is rapidly changing. However, unless they stop distributing music with DRM, a large part of their loyal customers could switch to another music company that doesn't include these protections.

5. The continuation of music piracy. While the RIAA has gone after companies like Napster and private individuals like college students, piracy and peer-to-peer file sharing will continue in the future. While programs like iTunes include DRM to make it harder to pirate music, there are always those who use technology to try and break these safeguards, and eventually they will succeed. And chances are, just like piracy in the past, it will have little or no effect on the music industry as whole.

No matter what the future brings, we can be sure that the digital music revolution will continue well into the future.

Some bands still not embracing the Revolution

When the media talks about bands who aren't making their music available for sale online, they are usually talking about the biggest hold-outs of them all: The Beatles. But they aren't the only ones who aren't embracing iTunes. According to Reuters, both AC/DC and Kid Rock decided not to sell their latest albums on-line.

However, their reasoning was different that The Beatles'. One of the features that many people love about iTunes is the ability to download single songs without having to buy the whole album. This feature is exactly what AC/DC and Kid Rock wanted to avoid. The wanted to force their fans to buy the entire album, not just one or two songs. Clearly, the reason behind this is money. The bands are afraid that if their fans can download one or two songs for 99 cents each, then they won't buy the entire album and their record sales will drop. And their plan seemed to work. Kid Rock's album, "Rock N Roll Jesus" was the third best selling album of the year, and AC/DC's "Black Ice" was the fourth.

But why are these big acts so worried about record sales in the first place? For big-name bands with a large fan base like AC/DC and Kid Rock, most of their profit comes from touring and ticket sales, not from album sales. Most of the money made from selling albums goes to the record label. So these bands must see their music, not as a collection of songs, but an entire work of art. If a person wants to listen to just one song off of an album, they won't truly understand the band's entire message.

And this leads us back to the Beatles. They were the first band that truly looked at the album as an entire work of art. Their revolutionary album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," released in 1967 was one of the first concept albums, and it changed music history. Songs ran together without a clear ending and in order to appreciate the album, a listener had to listen to the entire album from beginning to end. This type of album doesn't translate well into individual songs, unless the user is forced to buy the entire album, and iTunes only allows this on the rarest of occasions.

So while the Internet may be good for some bands who release only singles and not concept albums, there are other bands, like the Beatles and AC/DC who feel that their albums should be listened to in their entirety or not at all, who feel that the revolution isn't necessarily a good thing.

iTunes's potential downfall

There are dozens of reasons to dislike iTunes. The newest versions run slowly and use a lot of a computer's memory, there are oftentimes connection problems with the iTunes store, and it sometimes freezes and shuts down. But one of the biggest complaints about the digital media giant is that the music available through iTunes includes DRM, or digital rights management. DRM restricts the user from playing a protected file on certian devices and is what allows iTunes to limit a file to being on only five computers. And it is a major problem for music fans who use iTunes to get their music, but want to play it on a device other than an iPod.

According to this article by Iain Laing, Amazon recently started distributing music without DRM in Britain. This could signal the end of Apple's dominance of the digital music industry. People will no longer be limited to the number of times they can burn a particular file onto a CD or how many devices they are allowed to play the file on. They can even play files on any MP3 player.

But Apple is smart, and while Amazon has tried to take advantage of one of it's weaknesses, we will probably not see the end of Apple's online music dominance anytime soon. Apple has such a huge share of the market, and current, devoted iTunes users will be unlikely to switch to another service anytime soon. iPods are also incredibly popular, and since one of the biggest complaints about Apple's DRM is that it doesn't allow playback on anything other than an iPod, this argument doesn't effect very many iTunes users.

iTunes will likely be able to weather Amazon's recent development, but it is a sign that there are changes in the distribution of digital music, and that Apple may not be king for ever.

No need to leave home

As Bujega mentions in his book, "The Interpersonal Divide," the purpose of a home is changing thanks to digital technology. Instead of being a place of solitude to get away from the outside world, the home is becoming a connection or portal to the outside world. We go home to check e-mail, instant message, check Facebook or Myspace, and to buy music. Bujega argues that this is not necessarily a good thing, and in terms of social and interpersonal uses of the Internet, I agree. But the role that digital technology has played in music distribution has been been mostly positive.

The biggest advantage to buying music online is the amount and variety available. At my local Best Buy store, the biggest section of music is pop/rock. This is a little inconvenient for me, as I listen to a lot of blues. Best Buy does have a blues section, but it is very small. I can get a much better selection of blues music through iTunes, and I can get it without having to leave my bed room.

And the same holds true for digital movies and videos. There are movies available on iTunes that I am sure I would be unable to find at any brick-and-mortar store in Fargo. And while the movies sold through iTunes don't come with the special features and deleted scenes like DVDs do, it is often worth it not to have to go to the video store, which may not even have the title you're looking for.

So while digital technology may be increasing the interpersonal divide through tools like e-mail and instant messaging, it has also been used to increase exposure to music and videos that people would be otherwise unable to get. Bugeja could make the argument that if you are buying music and video online, you are missing out on connecting interpersonally with the cashier, but that is a relationship I am willing to let suffer in the name of more music and movie variety.

Pandora no more: The end of a digital music pioneer

For music lovers Pandora.com offers the best of digital music. Pandora is an Internet radio site that allows users to create their own radio stations and listen to music for free without listening to advertisements. The site is incredibly popular, and users can even listen to their stations on their iPhones, eliminating the need to be near a computer. This, of course, had lead to copyright concerns and questions about whether or not royalties need to be paid to the artists represented on Pandora. According to this article from MercuryNews.com, a judge has ruled that the site must pay royalties to 70 percent of the artists on the popular site. This of course could force Pandora to shut down for good.

This is the latest battle in the digital music copyright wars, and we could have predicted the outcome long ago based on the Napster and RIAA lawsuits. However, while Pandora is the most recent free music innovation to be potentially shut down, there will no doubt be other new technologies to circumvent current copyright laws to allow free access to music.

The current popular means of getting free music is through a service called Bit Torrent. Currently, bootlegs of concerts and other hard to find materials appear on the site, while relatively little actual albums appear. This could be the reason that Bit Torrent has remained relatively untouched by the RIAA. However, because the service is essentially a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, we can assume that this too will be shut down before too long.

While the future of Pandora and Bit Torrent remain uncertain, it is a reasonable guess that both will be forced to shut down in the near future. But the "free culture" of the Internet can almost guarantee us that somebody is currently working on a new way to distribute free music.

The "interpersonal divide" and digital music

It is possible to spend hours and hours browsing iTunes. I know because I have done it. The iTunes store allows you to see what else other people who have looked at a particular album have bought, and provides links to other artists that you may enjoy. It is possible to get totally immersed in iTunes just by clicking links to new artists that you may never have heard of previously. Before you know it, the entire afternoon has slipped by. Micheal Bugeja, author of Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age, would argue that this is a negative aspect of the digital music revolution. Rather than spending time interacting with other human beings, we are spending more and more time browsing virtual record libraries on iTunes. He would argue that this total immersion in the digital world erodes our interpersonal relationships.

While it is certainly true that we are spending more time on-line, I take a more optimistic view towards digital technology than Bugeja. iTunes has allowed me to explore a larger number of artists than I would have been exposed if I didn't have Internet access. I am a fan of blues and jazz music, and through iTunes I have discovered artists like Buddy Guy, John Scofield and Susan Tedeschi. I have also downloaded classical music such as Mozart's "Requiem" and the complete Beethoven Symphonies. Many of these artists would be unavailable to me through a traditional brick-and-mortar music store. The argument could be made that digital music has allowed me to expand my cultural awareness.

In addition to expanding my musical horizons, digital music has allowed me to better relate with my friends when we do meet face-to-face. I met one of my best friends because we share a love of blues music, and I "discovered" the blues through iTunes, so contrary to Bugeja's assertion, digital technology has actually increased and enhanced my interpersonal relationships.

Not only has iTunes expanded my musical horizons, but it has actually helped my interaction with others. I met one of my best friends because we both share a love for blues music, and I "discovered" the blues through iTunes. So, contrary to Bugeja's assertion, digital technology has actually help me to forge new relationships rather than aid in the decline of them.

In my previous post I discussed the resurgence of vinyl records. Often times, these records are purchased at traditional record stores. These stores serve as a meeting place, not only for music enthusiasts, but for lovers as vinyl as well. They provide a place where these fans of analog records can discuss the benefits of vinyl over CDs or MP3s. But according to Bugeja, this type of interaction will dwindle in in the future due to the increasing popularity of digital technology. Hopefully other have found the same benefits in digital music that I have, and Bugeja's theory will remain just that - a theory.

The argument against digital music: vinyl makes a comeback

While it seems that the majority of the consumers purchasing music these days believe that digital music is far superior to analog, there is a growing demand for the vinyl records from yesteryear, as this article from The Free Press Online reports. These traditionalist audiophiles believe that many of the classic albums were meant to be heard on old 33s or 88s, and because they were recorded for vinyl, they actually sound better in that format rather than on a CD or MP3. Best Buy even has a vinyl section now. This is counter intuitive given the fact that the digital format has dominated nearly every other form of media.

Part of vinyl's new-found popularity no doubt comes from nostalgic baby-boomers. Records were first marketed to teenagers in the mid and late fifties, when record producers recognized that for the first time, many teenagers now had a disposable income. This led to an entirely new segment of the population that remained untapped, and opened the door for teen-idols like Elvis, Buddy Holly and Little Richard. Those teens feel emotionally attached to vinyl records, and have generated enough demand for the medium that retailers are beginning to carry the records again.

There's no way to tell if this is just a trend, or if the popularity of vinyl records will continue in an increasingly digital age. But one thing is for sure: Many local record stores are experiencing a surge in sales, and have no plans of shutting their doors anytime soon.

Check out this short video about how the vinyl revival is effecting EMI's former record-pressing facility:

From MTV to MySpace: A change in marketing practices

In his book "Convergence Culture," Henry Jenkins uses the popular TV shows "Survivor" and "American Idol" to show how media convergence is being used to market television shows to a broader audience. Many of the examples that Jenkins uses are specifically tailored for the television industry. Shows have taken advantage of participatory audiences by allowing viewers to vote for a particular show's participants, posting "behind the scenes" clips on the Internet, and encouraging viewers to try-out to be on the show. Most of these practices are well-adapted for television, but how have the music industry and music artists embraced the new democratic participation seen in other forms of media?

There are several examples of media convergence within the music industry, although audiences are still fairly passive and not as participatory as they are in other forms of media. Perhaps the newest innovation for the music industry is a new feature included in the latest edition of iTunes: the Genius Sidebar. This tool creates a playlist for users based on a specific song. The user selects a song, and the sidebar will generate a playlist based on that song's specific attributes. The sidebar will also make suggestions for new music that the user does not already have.

Another innovation in music marketing is the use of MySpace to promote bands. While many artists, such as Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd, adopted Web pages years ago, the creation of a special MySpace page is a fairly recent phenomenon, and it seems to be working. Nearly every popular band or artist has a MySpace page, and new and emerging bands are also keen to the site. Buddy Guy and Jakob Dylan are just two examples of artists that have embraced the popularity of MySpace. This service allows bands not only to promote new projects and announce upcoming concerts, but provides fans with a way to feel closer to the band. It is a way of creating a loyal fan base through the use of the Internet. Even artists who have been dead for 30 years or more, such as Jimi Hendrix, have official MySpace pages. And now other social networking sites are getting in on the music business. In an article published earlier this month, the Calgary Herald reported that Facebook was exploring the possibility of allowing music on its site.

Another clear example of the music industry's convergence with other media are the "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" video games.
Many bands such as Aerosmith and Metallica have embraced the games' popularity and have used it to help market their music. And a new trend in video game and music convergence may soon emerge. AsiaOne Digital reported that a new single by The Smashing Pumpkins will be available in the video game "Saints Row 2" before the album is released. For more information on video game technology visit Kim's "Gaming and the 21st Century" blog.

Through these examples we can see that television is not the only form of media to embrace the convergence culture and participatory audiences.

The Beatles v. Apple

For a fleeting moment this week, Beatles fans were hopeful that the band's music would finally be available on iTunes. Bloomingdale's announced that it would sell a special Beatles iPod. While many though this would mean that the Beatles would finally be allow their music on iTunes, this was not to be. The special edition iPod comes with the entire Beatles catalogue on CDs and users must upload these CDs to the iPod. The device isn't a collaboration between the band and Apple, it is simply a product of Bloomingdale's

When iTunes first debuted there were several bands and music artists that refused to allow their music to be distributed through the iTunes store. As the popularity of digital music and the huge success of iTunes, many of the bands that orginally held out have embraced the technology - except for one: The Beatles. For many, the refusal of the band to be distributed via iTunes is somewhat of a suprise. The band was know not only for creating revolutionary music through innovative recording practices and marketing techniques, so many assumed that they would be among the first to adopt legal, on-line music distribution. But the reason the band's catalogue is unavailable on iTunes is not due to a fear of piracy. Rather, The Beatles have an issue with Apple, the company that created iTunes. In 1968 The Beatles created Apple Records. When Apple Computers was founded, it reached an agreement with the Beatles, that because the company shares its name with the the record company, Apple Computers would not enter the music business. At the time it seemed logical, but as technology has improved, Apple computers has become dependant on its music distribution. Apple Records eventually sued Apple Computers, and in 2006 the judge ruled that Apple Computers did not violate copyright rules. With the end of the lawsuit, many fans hoped that The Beatles would finally be allowed on iTunes. So far, this has not happened, but fans across the world continue to hope that The Beatles will one day embrace the digital music revolution.

Piracy still an issue for record labels

For years, Internet users have been able to store their computer files on-line as a way of backing up their hard drives. So it should be no surprise that companies have started to store music files on the Internet. This of course has lead to cries of piracy from the record companies. This week, EMI filed a lawsuit against MP3tunes.com, a site that allows users to upload music files to a music "locker," which can then be accessed by wireless devices such as cell phones. This allows users to access their files from pretty much anywhere, and also provides a means of protecting their files.

The argument that EMI has raised is that MP3tunes.com allows anybody to access the locker, not just the legal owners of the music files.

With the record companies' fight against peer-to-peer file sharing and now on-line music lockers, it would seem that the major labels are bent on making sure that CDs are the major form of music distribution. This is another case of a large corporation being unwilling to change its philosophy in order to embrace new technology and remain a major competitor in its market. This failure to change has been the downfall of companies such as IBM and AT&T, and if record companies wish to remain competitive they should stop fighting the coupling of technology and the music industry. Surely, EMI could set up its own music locker, that would allow users to upload music files, and could create measures to ensure that only the legitimate owners of the music files could access the site. No matter what EMI chooses to do, it should stop fighting against technology and learn to embrace it.

To read more about EMI's lawsuit, go to CNET.com. For more about music lockers, see Minyanville.com.

The New Producers of Digital Music

Digital technology and the internet has had many profound effects on media in recent years. One of the changes that has received the most attention is recent years is the changing definition of media producers. YouTube invites its users to "Broadcast Yourself," millions subscribe to or write their own blogs, and many media organizations, such as CNN, solicit internet users to subit their own videos. It is clear that anybody with a digital video camera and internet access can be a producer of digital content, and with any luck can be quite famous.

However, most of the focus of this shift in media producers has been upon video. New digital recording equipment allows musicians to digitally record their own music. For just a few hundred dollars, musicians and recording artists can buy a fairly high quality multi-track digital recorder. These multi-track recorders are essentially full recording studios and are about the size of a hard-cover novel. Before digital technology, recording studios used reel-to-reel tape, and these studios were the size of entire rooms. Recording time in these studios was expensive, and a band generally had to be signed with a major record label to have any hope of making a quality recording. But like nearly everything that digital technology has been applied to, recording equipment has become smaller, more affordable and more available to the general public. I am a guitar player and the following music clips were recorded in my own home with my own guitars. The first is a cover version of Cream's "White Room" and the second is based on Eric Clapton's unplugged version of "Layla."



The ability to digitally record original music at home, edit that music, and add digital effects such as echos or phase shifting, has the potential to change the music industry. No longer do artists need to book expensive time in a recording studio to produce a CD. With digital equipment available to anybody who can afford it, nearly anybody can become the next true "guitar hero."
For more information about home recording check out this blog: HomeTracked.

Digital Music and Ethics

Last year was an exciting one for fans of classic rock, particularly for fans of Eric Clapton. Clapton reunited with former band-mate Steve Winwood for three performances at New York City's Madison Square Garden. In essence, it was a reunion of Clapton's and Winwood's band from the late 1960s, Blind Faith. By all accounts, the concert was incredible. But because they only played three concerts in New York, many fans, including myself, were unable to attend. Thankfully for us, there is YouTube. Not only is there a Web site where users can upload videos they have created, there are also people that are willing to record parts of the concert and post them on that Web page. Just hours after the first Winwood/Clapton concert I was able to find excerpts from the concert on YouTube, including this one featuring Clapton and Winwood covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing."

Most of the recent uproar concerning digital music and copyright issues has centered on peer-to-peer file sharing. Rarely do we hear about the recording industry taking action against those who distribute bootlegs, such as the one above. It is hard to find a news story about bootlegging and its consequences, but there are thousands of sites, like this blog, that brazenly advertise bootlegs and some even allow users to download entire concerts. There are even Web sites that inform you how to create a bootleg.

Bootlegs have been around for a long time. You can find bootlegs of Bob Dylan, Beatles and Grateful Dead on records or cassette tapes if you know where to look. But with digital technology creating increasingly smaller video recording devices and the Internet allowing users to distribute video around the world, some form of bootlegging can be done by almost any concert goer.

While bootlegging is no doubt illegal, I think the recording industry has just chosen to ignore this phenomena. It concedes that bootlegging exists, but have decided to focus its efforts on catching those who share large amounts of music through peer-to-peer services such as Limewire. They recognize that most of these illegal recordings are of poor quality, and the recent popularity of concert DVDs prove that consumers are willing to actually pay for high quality, legal recordings of concerts. While I have seen much of the Clapton/Winwood concert on YouTube, I would gladly pay $15 or $20 to have a legal copy of the concert on DVD.

The Recording Industry v. Pretty Much Everybody

It is no secret that digital technology has been embraced by nearly every industry in the world. Adopting these digital advances has its advantages, but it also comes with disadvantages. One of the biggest and most vocal arguments against digital technology comes from the music recording industry. In the late 1990s the courts shut down peer-to-peer file sharing Web site Napster, and have continued their legal battle against those who illegally share copyrighted material. According to "It's Happening at State," a newsletter distributed by the University of North Dakota, the RIAA brought legal action in April of 2007 against three NDSU students for illegally sharing music. The recording industry's response to digital file sharing has been to bring legal action against anybody violating copyright law.

The industry has always been vocal when new technology allows music lovers to make copies of their music collections. The recording industry was vocal about cassette players being able to copy music from either from another cassette tape or directly from the radio. The industry was also up-in-arms about the first CD burners, which would allow users to make copies of compact discs. The recording industry was against both of these technological advances, but neither proved to be the downfall of the recording industry.

One of the reasons that the recording industry has been so adamant in its battle against illegal file sharing is that it is so wide-spread. Anybody with a computer and Internet access can download p2p programs. It's also easier for the industry to track those who engage in file sharing.

While the recording industry's stance has been one of zero-tolerance, in order for recording companies to survive in the digital age they must change to embrace the new technology.

If record companies wish to keep CDs as a viable form of music, they need to add more value to the product. They should add DVDs that show the band in the studio or performing live. They could package their CDs with special codes that allow buyers to download legal copies of the album or bonus tracks from the Internet.

The fact of the matter is that the recording industry, just like every every other industry, must evolve if it wants to continue to make a profit during the digital music revolution.

High Compression and Quailty

In a recent interview, Sir George Martin, The Beatles' producer during the 1960s said that he doesn't listen to MP3s or iPods because he doesn't like how the highly compressed digital files sound. While digital music producers may sacrifice sound quality in favor of smaller file sizes, the difference in quality is generally hard to recognize for casual listeners.

MP3s and other audio file formats are created by minimizing the amount of data an audio file requires by removing specific parts of the file that most people are unable to hear. This results in a much smaller audio file, but a slight deterioration in the quality of the end product. This small reduction in quality isn't perceptible by most people, but people like Martin, who have spent their entire careers honing their sense of hearing, claim that the digital files are hard to listen to.

Because the creation of MP3 files relies on a quirk of humans' auditory systems, it is unlikely that the quality of highly compressed audio files will increase as technology evolves. Audiophiles will likely have to wait for a new type of file compression system before any great change in the quality of digital audio occurs. Until then, those who can't stand how digital music sounds, like Sir George Martin, will have to continue to listen to their vinyl record collections.

Digital Music Devices and Convergence

By most accounts, Steve Jobs' much anticipated press conference wasn't as exciting as many had hoped it would be. While there was no news of The Beatles catalogue being added to iTunes, Jobs, Apple’s CEO, did unveil a new version of the iPod Nano. To read more about the conference, click here.

The anticipation surrounding the press conference shows how popular digital music has become and how Apple dominates the market. A key factor in the popularity of digital music is the devices that we can use to access digital media. Prior to iPods and other MP3 players, the dominate form of digital music was the compact disk. While CDs were a vast improvement over cassette tapes, in both the quality of the music and the quality they were able to hold, they required a bulky CD player and music had to be purchased at a brick-and-mortar store, not on-online.

While there were a few MP3 players available to the public in the late 1990s, the first widely successful player, the iPod, was first released in 2001. Along with the iPod, Apple launched the iTunes Store, which allowed users to download music legally.

In seven short years, the technology behind the iPod has greatly improved. Hard drive space has increased from 50 gigabytes to 500, iPods now have the capability to play video, and all iPods now include a color display.

One of the hallmarks of evolving technology is convergence, or combining different media in one unit, and Apple embraced this idea with the iPhone. This unit, launched in 2007, combined all of the features of the iPod, including music storage and playback and video playback, with the features of a cell phone. It also included new technology such as a touch-screen interface and video voicemail. This is the ultimate example of media convergence, and show’s that Apple has adapted its product line to embrace new technology.

So what’s next for the iPod, iPhone and digital music in general? While Steve Jobs didn’t address this at his press conference, there is, as always, much speculation about what new features will be included in future iPods. I think that it will only be a matter of time before iPod users will be able to access the iTunes store wirelessly directly from their iPods or iPhones. With Wi-Fi becoming increasingly popular, this would be a logical path for Apple to take. But we will just have to wait for Steve Jobs’ next press conference to see exactly what he has in store his iPods.

The Evolving Music Industry

I remember buying my very first CD. I remember that it was the Beatles' Abbey Road, and that I bought it at Wal-Mart. I remember that CDs were just beginning to become the prominent source of music; cassette tapes were still quite popular, and I still had most of mine. That was over 15 years ago. I still have the Abbey Road album, but I don't buy many CDs anymore. I, like most college-aged adults, get my music through on-line sources such as iTunes.

It is interesting to consider how the music industry has changed over the past 10 years. While CDs are still a popular way to purchase music, it is apparent that purchasing digital music over the Internet is a growing trend. In the year after iTunes was introduced, over 100 million songs were downloaded by its users, according to CNN.com.

This digital revolution has not been without its controversies, however. The Recording Industry Association of America has sued several individuals for peer-to-peer file sharing, and in 2000 a popular file-sharing client, Napster, was ordered to shut down its free service. The RIAA is now targeting college campuses in search of individuals who illegally obtain music.

There is much debate about the benefits and downfalls of technology's influence upon the music industry. Although we are able to download an entire album in a matter of seconds, this has opened the door for illegal file-sharing. While we can browse through millions of titles by thousands of artists, the quality of these files may actually suffer due to the compression process required to make the digital file. In the future, I hope to explore some of these issues, as well as how the music industry will continue to change as a result of technology.