The Weird and The Wacky Meet |
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Where YouBetIAm comes to write…. |
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MCR 4 Music or Sound Recording |
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College Students Download in Dorm Rooms By Ted Bridis, AP Technological Writer April 2, 2005 Yahoo! News by way of the Associated Press
More and more colleges are offering free or low cost mp3 downloading services to the students who live in their dorms. These students are being watched very closely by music industry executives who are looking to work the kinks out of new electronic file sharing formats and make a profit off of people who do not want to buy CDs. Recorded music has been going through somewhat of a crisis since the invention of the mp3. While the Recording Industry Association of America may feel that this new way of recording and transferring music is a threat to their profit margin, sometimes they don’t see the whole picture. With each new medium that comes out, every industry has adjusted and came out stronger for it. Just like television forced radio to change, or shared cassettes gave artists a chance to be heard through word of mouth, mp3’s will change sound recordings for the better in the long run. But there will be a period of adjustment. I am affected by this in two ways. First, I really would like to know what universities are offering free file downloads to students, so I can pick a transfer school accordingly. Second, as a consumer who does listen to a lot of electronic music, burns my own CDs and has several gigs of mp3’s on my hard drive, I have to be aware of pricing structures and legalities when it comes to who has the right to listen to mp3s and other computer media. I am not sure where I stand on the pay-for-play services, but I do want options to be available to me. Knowing that the RIAA is at least trying to work out the kinks is reassuring. But how they go about doing it, and what they choose to fix is something I, as a consumer, need to keep up on.
Copyright 2005 |
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by Amanda Evans |
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Date: 04/05/05 |
