MP3 :: essays research papers fc

Executive summaryIts only been about three years since a little known extension of an audiocompression technique-MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3 or MP3-opened the door to beingable to send large volumes of CD-quality melody over the Internet by pack the equivalent of several commercial compact disks onto the equivalent of one CDplatter (Lange 01). It also initiated the veritable floor of piratingactivity by an underground community students and hackers. Hundreds of MP3Internet sites sprung up overnight. At these sites, everything in music fromMozart to Marilyn Manson is being reproduced (Lange 01). Of course, itsillegal, but its free, which has a huge appeal.Two men summarize the battle that is still raging over this new engineering.On one fount theres Val Azzoli, co-CEO of the Atlantic Group, which hasnumerous popular artists signed to their label and on the other is the CEOof the website MP3.com, which gives away digitized songs by new artists thatno one has heard of provided (Mardesich 9 6). While this may not sound like muchof a threat, what lies at the heart of this conflict is the concern ofrecording industry that this new technology may chance the balance of powerand if allows the shipment of music directly to the consumer (Mardesich 96).The five giant corporations that contr ol 80% of the global musicindustry-worth roughly $60 one thousand thousand a year-have taken notice (Wood Darcy42). The following discussion will explore more fully why the recordcompanies, despite their obvious power, be scared.Pros and ConsIt is the telling 121 compression ratio of the MP3 that has made it sopopular. While 60 or so Mbytes are needed to store a veritable(prenominal) song, once itis converted to MP3 format it becomes a single 5 Mbyte file (Lange 01). "Theadvantages are obvious," commented one executive, "CD-quality sound in asmall package" (Lange 01).The drawbacks are all felt by the record companies. Artists are likely tobenefit, eventually, if they take advantage of the new technology anddeliver their songs to their fans directly via the Internet (Mardesich 96).Theyl l no longer have record companies making money off from their workand by eliminating this "middle man" could conceivably earn a great make outmore then they do now. However, for the large record labels, this newtechnology could mean real trouble in the future.Right now, the loss are negligible. For example, Americans worn out(p) almostnothing on downloaded music in 1998, but they spent nearly $14 billion onmusic from stores (Mardesich 96). Nevertheless, the Recording Industry crosstie of America (RIAA) said that MP3 piracy may have contributed to a