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.
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.
4 comments:
Digital music is the best way to download music. No more CD's player or walkman, good field to focus on, digital music.
Nice format of you blog, your images caption a viewer right way.
I read the article you have on your blog about Zune/iPod. I have nothing against Apple, but my husband does, so I have a Zune. I do love it, but I can't compare it to the iPod fairly as I've never used one. I was just amazed as to how Microsoft can't get their stuff together in marketing the Zune! Granted, they took a while to even get the Zune out there, but still. This is MicroSoft! I thought it was humorous. They made really good points too, especially on the bit about the Zune Marketplace. But, no, I won't be converting to an iPod anytime soon. I am partial to the 30Gs I have along with staying married. ;)
Visible and interesting topic to address. You do notice on p2p sharing programs, that the sound quality of tracks can be very low. Sometimes below 100kbps. All this compression and changing of the original seriously distorts the track after awhile. It is amazing to think of how quickly the music industry has changed. From cassettes with the two spinning wheels, to a hard drive that holds tons of music in a digital format...
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