MP3 :: essays research papers fc

Executive summaryIts only been intimately three years since a little known extension of an audio frequencycompression technique-MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3 or MP3-opened the door to beingable to disseminate large volumes of CD-quality unison over the Internet by pack the like of several commercial compact disks onto the equivalent of one CD saucer (Lange 01). It also initiated the veritable floor of piratingactivity by an underground friendship 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, exclusively its free, which has a huge appeal.Two men summarize the battle that is unruffled raging over this impertinent applied science.On one side theres Val Azzoli, co-chief operating officer 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 parvenue artists thatno one has heard of besides (Mardesich 96). While this may not proficient 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 corpo balancens that contr ol 80% of the global musicindustry-worth approximately $60 billion a year- overhear taken notice (Wood Darcy42). The following news will explore more fully why the recordcompanies, notwithstanding their obvious power, ar sc ard.Pros and ConsIt is the impressive 121 compression ratio of the MP3 that has made it sopopular. While 60 or so Mbytes are needed to store a typical song, once itis converted to MP3 arrange 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 matt-up by t he 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 interminable have record companies making money off from their workand by eliminating this "middle man" could conceivably earn a great channelmore 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 spent almostnothing on downloaded music in 1998, exclusively they spent nearly $14 billion onmusic from stores (Mardesich 96). Nevertheless, the save IndustryAssociation of America (RIAA) said that MP3 piracy may have contributed to a