Mp 3 Music Files example essay topic

MP 3 PIRACY The trading of MP 3's or digital music over the Internet is always going to be a prevalent part of the music industry, and is an unrealistic goal to try to control. The cost of controlling the piracy issues over the Internet would cost record companies more money than what they are losing due to MP 3 trading. The record industry is trying to fight the major sites and companies in court with copyright suits. Although downloading music over the Internet and playing it back on computer or portable digital music players has become increasingly popular, major record labels have been slow to embrace distribution over the Web because of the difficultly in preventing unauthorized - and unpaid - copying of songs. (Quinlan 3). MP 3 is a file format, which compresses audio files to efficiently store the audio data in files that can be easily downloaded on the Internet.

(MPEG Audio Layer 3) An audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 specifications. Developed in Germany in 1991 by the Fraunhofer Institute, MP 3 music files are played via software or a handheld device. MP 3 files are identified by the file extension MP 3 and require specialized players, which decompress the files and then play the audio files like a regular CD. For all practical purposes, mp 3 files can be exact, near-perfect digital copies of the original recorded material.

In other words, a mp 3 file is a near-perfect copy of a CD and can be stored on a computer or other data storage media. MP 3 shrinks audio files in such a way that sound quality is preserved, but the file size is significantly smaller than it would be as a regular CD song file. This means you are able, to download an entire song in only a few minutes. After that, you can play the song instantly.

You are able to play the song as many times as you want regardless of your modem speed. Quite simply, the technology behind the MP 3 audio format allows for high compression ratio and CD- quality sound. A Mp 3 file compresses a sound file to one-twelfth its original size. (Kimmel 1).

The main legal controversy involved with MP 3 file's is that they are being traded around the Internet without the artist consent of the artist or record companies. It seems obvious that the use of MP 3 technology does not for the most part, meet the requirements, set by the Copyright Law of 1976, to clam fair use for educational purposes. These arguments can include protection gaps, where copyright treaties only protect material for a certain amount of time, thus making produced and distributed after this gap has expired legal. Another legal justification of bootleg recordings is that the copyright is not owned by the artist, publisher, or record company, though this defense has not been as successful as the protection gap defense. This is what is making it easy for sites to be around such as MP 3. com and programs such as Napster.

(Kimmel 1). MP 3 has made it feasible to download quality audio from the Web very quickly, causing it to become a worldwide auditioning system for new musicians and labels. Established bands post sample tracks from new albums to encourage CD sales, and new bands post their music on MP 3 sites in order to develop an audience. The chief argument MP 3. com states is when a consumers buys a CD, does the industry get to tell the consumer where she can listen to her music? The type of technology that she can use to play her CD? Whether she can use new Internet technologies?

What about the fair use right's of the consumer? (Robertson 86). The services that MP 3. com provides are legal as long as you have purchased the CDs you are able to listen to thought their technology. As RIAA lawsuit states once a user obtains permanent access to infringing reproductions by placing an order for or confirming to defendant that he is in the possession of an audio CD containing those sound recording. He then has free rain over that site. They had purchased a total of 80,000 CDs and made them assessable to their viewers.

Eventually Mp 3. com is planning to move to a system where you have to pay for listening to their services. Robertson (86) states that " we believe that the artists will benefit far more by having the Internet technologies given them the ability to make direct connection with their fans and ultimately receive revenue on a pay-per-listen basis". Robertson also states " We have every intention of fighting your efforts to dictate the way people can listen to their music". I received an email on May 11th from MP 3. com has voluntarily agreed to disable their content in the My. MP 3. com database while negotiations continue apace. As a result, you will, at this time, be unable to access the major labels' content through your My.

MP 3. com account. They did however say that it would be back up and running soon. Napster is a program that has been created which connects you to everyone who is online at a time and shares all of their MP 3 databases. It has a search engine enabled in the program where you can search for a song and down load it from a number of different accounts. Created by a 19-year-old college student, Napster which instantly connects users to one another stockpiles of mostly unauthorized MP 3 files, free for the taking - has rattled the record industry. Faced with the daunting prospect of consumers simply downloading entire libraries of music for free, the label's trade association, the Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA) quickly sued napster for trafficking in piracy.

(Boehlert 154). Napster's homepage states the following: This Site is created and controlled by Napster from its offices within the state of California of the United States of America. As such, the laws of the state of California will govern these disclaimers, terms, and conditions, without regard to or application of choice of law rules or principles. Napster makes no representation that materials in the web site or the Napster service are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and access to them from territories where their content or use is illegal is prohibited.

Those who choose to access this web site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. (Barry 1). The idea of Napster has frightened many artists. Alot of the artists are just shocked when they here that there songs re being passed around for free. Most of the artist have been said to be scared about speaking out the business end of there contracts in fear that they are going to be perceived as being greedy and there sole purpose is in making money. What now has to happen is RIAA has to get around all the loop hole that the companies have used such as different state and laws accessibility their.

It is also a really hard case to show because the record industry in 1999 grew or gained by three percent. Just because sales are up does not mean that it is time to declare the digital piracy hasn't hurt the music business... There is just no way to tell how much we could have lost. There is no scientific or empirical way to determine how much more music we could have sold. Walsh 87). RIAA has recently sued MY.

MP 3. com as the law suit states: The defendant made unauthorized copies of those 80 000 audio CDs, loaded the unauthorized copies onto file servers, and is permitting users of its Internet service to listen to and download those unauthorized copies. Despite the plaintiff's requests, the defendant has refused to discontinue this massive ongoing infringement. The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief, and statutory damages for willful copyright infringement... Defendant has willfully and with full knowledge of plaintiffs' copyrights made infringing reproductions of thousands of plaintiffs' copyrighted sound recordings for the purpose of operating its commercial My. MP 3 interactive service. Sony has been playing both sides of the field with the issue of MP 3 piracy with the new release of their new mini disc walkman.

Now all of your favorite music including MP 3 files as well as CD tracks can be recorded on the high-quality, affordable Minidisc media. At about $3 for a blank MD, it is reasonable to create and update a personalized MD mix for every activity with the latest downloadable tunes. This shows how Sony knows that this is the way of the future and wants to jump on the bandwagon. Knowing that it is not going to be possible to ever stop the illegal trade of MP 3's Sony has harnessed away of making money off of playing them.

In conclusion, the making and trading of mp 3 music files is a serious problem for the music industry. Mp 3 piracy is just beginning and the music industry has no power to stop the trading of mp 3's. Websites like Napster and My Mp 3. com may be shut down, but there are many more websites on the Internet trading mp 3 music files. Piracy of mp 3 files is out of control with no way to halt trade.