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Posts Tagged ‘Mp3 Players’

 

Today’s click-and-download technology presents a greater threat to the music recording industry than all other past music-delivery technologies combined.

 

Music piracy exists in 3 different planes:

 



Illegally mass-manufactured pirate music CDs

Illegal copies of legitimately purchased music CDs

Illegally downloaded digital copies of recorded music



 

A recent research study on the economic impact of music piracy (Institute for Policy Innovation, August 2007) paints a grim picture. The impact of music piracy to the U.S. economy is estimated at U.S. $12.5 billion annually. It is estimated that 71,060 jobs are lost or at risk due to the economic impact of piracy and the lost growth opportunities account for 26,860 jobs that would have otherwise been created in the recording industry. Even the U.S. government is affected by piracy with an estimated loss of $422 million in tax revenues from lost personal and corporate income due to piracy.

 

Of course, these figures are based upon the assumption that sales of recorded music on CD would have held constant, or increased, from year to year. The truth is, however, that CD sales are on the decline as MP3 players and other digital technology make the need for music on physical media obsolete.

 

In addition to falling CD sales, half of America’s independent record stores closed between 2003 and 2005. (NY Post). One of the largest international chains of recorded music sellers, Tower Records, closed its doors forever on December 22, 2006.

 

Want to see how prevalent music piracy really is? Here’s a real-time counter that shows the number of illegal music files downloaded around the world every second.

 

When the average person thinks of music piracy, he or she usually thinks of unauthorized sharing of downloaded or recorded music between small groups of friends. And while those numbers do contribute to the music industry’s losses, the biggest losses occur from the sale of pirated music that is burned onto CD-R disks by the thousands in small commercial laboratories by professional music pirates.

 

The costs of music piracy are staggering not only for the high profile superstars but for the new musicians as well. It is important for every musician and band member to understand the nature of music piracy and learn how to combat this problem. Know your rights, and learn about the technology that exists that can protect you and your intellectual property (music) from piracy.

 

Once again my Dads birthday is here, and once again I have NO idea what it is I should get him. Another tie? Another pair of socks? We both are sick of the same old presents, the siblings are going for them, because they are safe, but I want to get him something different, something original that he will actually appreciate not just look at once and add to the pile at the bottom of the wardrobe.

I end up trawling the internet, trying to find a really exciting gift; absolutely nothing is catching my eye, until I start looking down the road of music. Now I could get him some more CD’s but I don’t know what new stuff he is into, and he has all of the oldies. I decided I should go and have a look through his record collection to get an idea of the music he is interested in.

As I was sorting through the dusty vinyls and tapes I realize he never listens to this stuff anymore, and not through choice we just don’t have the technology to play them. Record and tape players have been replaced by CD plays, MP3 players and iPods, the only time you will see a record player nowadays is in front of a DJ. Maybe I should buy him a record player? Too expensive… maybe there might be a way that I could possibly download all these songs and put them onto CDs?

Once again I’m searching through cyberspace, and I come across a nearby recording studio that will take all of the old vinyls and tapes and put them onto CD for me, perfect! So I chose a select few that I knew where his favorites shook away the dust and bagged them up.

The next day I made my way down to the recording studio to enquire about this service and how much I need to fork out for it. My music was taken by the nice recording studio worker and I was instructed to come back the next day to collect my new CDs! My brother and sister were hounding me about what I was getting him, my smug look told them that it was something pretty good but I wouldn’t spill, their presents were obviously not going to be as good as mine!

In the morning I wandered down to the recording studio to collect the music, they were all copied and set out ready and waiting for me. They had even created me a front cover for all of them wishing my dad a happy birthday! The original vinyl and tapes were also returned as good as new, and I made my way back home to wrap up my excellent birthday present.

My dads face when he opened my gifts and saw what his presents were was a picture. It was so nice to finally get him something that he really did appreciate and he was excited to receive. He spent all day listening to all the songs that bring back great memories and he was so happy to finally be able to listen to his favorite songs again. The present was definitely worth it and the recording studio did such a good job, to produce a high quality original birthday present, and save me and my pocket from downloading all the songs I have already got available.