Get Real
The message that I wish to shout to the Music Recording Industry is this, GET REAL! That sound�s good, but the more I think about it I wonder what that term really means. I guess �get real� is just a slang term that roughly translates to �Evaluate your current actions, and compare them with the trends that exist in reality; and try to see things from other people�s perspective.� The debate on internet music sharing has gone on for a long time and there are a great many arguments for and against both sides of the issue. I am generally willing to accept that downloading music from peer to peer networks without paying for it is an infringement of copyright laws. Most of those laws were forced through our congress by the Recording Industry itself, yet at least the core of these laws follows the spirit of copyright laws from the past. These issues are not what I want to focus on. I would simply like to point out that it is too late for the Recording Industry (RIAA) in it�s current state. The general public likes the new technology and want�s to get their music off the internet and be able to burn their songs to CDs and listen on their portable MP3 players. The trend is already too big for the RIAA to put down. The recording industry will either adapt and provide consumers with what they want or they will cease to be the source of music for the general public.
I salute the apple music store for it�s attempt at providing consumers with a reasonable alternative to file swapping programs. There are a few options for buying music to download on the Windows PC but they suffer from the technical inferiority and inconvenience of the Windows Media format. The music industry chose this format because of the Digital Rights Managemet (DRM) features. These songs never really belong to you, they must be played with proprientary software from Microsoft, and check a server everytime you want to listen, move, copy, or burn the song. In certain instances, you buy a subscription for permission to listen to your music. If you ever cancel your account with pressplay you lose all the songs you purchased. I do not wish to use any of these services until I can pay