The MP3 Controversy
The Internet of today is one with millions of web pages having to do with just about anything imaginable. From shopping to pet grooming how-to's, you can find out about anything that may interest you. One of the more frequently looked up topics on the Internet is music. With the ease of purchasing just about anything from your home, music web sites like CDNow.com are thriving in today's e-commerce world. If you have been on-line sometime recently you have probably heard one thing or another about something called an MP3. Maybe you have even seen an advertising banner for MP3.com or any of the thousands of web sites having to do with MP3's. If you are part of the few who have not been exposed to the phenomenon known as MP3, let me give you a basic definition. MP3 is a music format that "compresses music files to one-tenth the size of that on CD's while keeping most of the CD quality. At about 1MB per minute of music, that makes the files perfect for sending over the Internet.". One article from Wired News reports that "Earlier this year, MP3 outpaced "sex" at the No. 1 search term on the Web." Many companies have begun to realize that music is becoming ever so important in the Internet community. AOL has just taken a bi
The RIAA has been holding strong to their words. Recently RIAA contacted the University of South Carolina because a student had been downloaded illegal MP3 files and then storing them on his computer. Also, just this year 71 students at Carnegie Mellon where disciplined for illegal MP3 use, after the RIAA sent the school letters threatening a lawsuit. So what does the future hold for MP3? It would seem to me that MP3's are not going anywhere in the near future. There are just to many files floating around the Internet and to many people downloading them. An Internet manager at major music label BMG summed up the RIAA and record industries point, "Consumers will have a choice - they can choose endorsed music or go down the piracy route. My gut feeling is that 90 percent of consumers would rather pay a sum of money for music that is endorsed by the artists." And the side in favor of MP3 is summed up by Perry Barlow, one of the founders of the cyber rights advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation, "My fear is that the music industry will come up with a standard that will help them bottle up the enormous value of music for their own gain...Their approach to piracy may sharply limit our own rights to fair use."
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1864
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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