Computer Piracy in The Music Industry Essay -- mp3 file sharing music

Computer Piracy (The Music Industry) The music industry has had problems with computer piracy for many years now. There have been many programs devoted to giving out free music. Many of these programs are well know, but still very hard to stop. Napster, Kazaa, and the newest program, myTunes Redux are the most popular programs for music sharing. This essay will explain all about these main programs which allow free music to be shared all over the world. File-sharing became big right around the time the Napster file-sharing program came out. Napster is an online service which was invented by an 18-year-old college student that allows a user to see song files residing on the hard drives of other users, and to download copies of any of those songs. (DLC.org) Napster started off at a slow pace, becoming popular at colleges and then it just exploded. Everyone was using this program within a year of its creation. (DLC.org) However, it eventually got busted and the idea of free music was shutdown, or so the music industry thought. Napster continues to be around today, but with a legal persona. After Napster was told to stop there illegal program there were many other programs in the making. Programs even more advanced then Napster. The next program to come along which caused a big stir was a program known as Kazaa. Kazaa took file sharing to the next level by also allowing movie and picture files to be shared rather than just music files. The Kazaa protocol is the brainchild of the Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrà ¶m and Janus Friis and was introduced in March 2001 by their Dutch company Consumer Empowerment. (Wikipedia.org) Like the creators of Napster, Kazaa's owners have been taken to court by m... ...l and is the biggest file sharing program since Napster and Kazaa. There will most likely be a final resolution to this new program by next year. Basically, file sharing programs will always be around. They even are able to avoid law suits by explaining that it is the user who is breaking the law. The world of the music industry needs to understand that there is nothing they can do to stop it. All they can do is try to find ways to work around it. Besides, if someone really enjoys a band, they would go out and support them by buying their cd. In the end, file sharing is part of the world around us and will remain here for many years to come. Works Cited http://www.dlc.org/print.cfm?contentid=646 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa http://news.com.com/MyTunes+returns+for+iTunes+song+sharing/2100-1027_3- 5349272.html