Silence
the lawsuits, bring on the free downloads
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
Remember
when a person could download a catchy or
great tune without having to pay for the
entire CD? Most college students remember
when Napster was a popular web site where
eager Internet browsers could download oodles
of music for free. As soon as Napster rose
to pirating fame, the controversies started.
Lawsuits were filed against Napster, and
the company was tyring to make agreements.
BMI music tried to correlate in downloading
with Napster, so that every time a person
would log on to the site, a fee would be
charged. The plan never went through, and
the stellar idea fizzled.
This week history is repeating itself. With
yet another lawsuit against Napster. Two
record companies, Universal Music and EMI
filed a lawsuit on Monday, against Napster
Inc., with major cases of copyright violations.
As if the obvious statement about piriating
wasn’t enough, the suit seeks $150,000 per
violation. Making matters worse, this lawsuit
intends to prevent other companies into
creating a file-swapping service ever since
Napster. Could there be a more ridiculous
idea?
A good majority of students around Cal State
Long Beach have probably heard of Limewire,
WinMX, BearShare, Aimster and the ever famous
Kazaa. These five companies have spawned
ever since the decline of Napster. It’s
been said before and it will be said again;
there is no escape from Internet piracy.
However, there are ways to incorporate piracy,
without depleting the usage of MP3s. Apple
Computers, which is the creator of the ipod
have incorporated a way to download music,
and pay a fee with the ipod. This idea also
correlates with Apple’s itunes, so people
can get all the latest and greatest songs.
Apple’s plan, unlike past ideas with Napster
and BMI, incorporates all digital music,
and could prove to be a successful plan.
Best of all, Apple’s plan pays royalties
to the record companies, proving to be a
win-win situation for music downloaders
(with enough money to pay for services)
and record companies.
The issues of downloading music with Napster
are all in the past. While some people see
digital music as an opportunity for profit
and correspondence with downloaders and
record companies, others, like Universal
and EMI, need to stop complaining about
digital music. It’s about time both record
companies and digital music stop complaining
about each other, and find a common ground.
If Apple’s digital music plan work, then
the dispute between record companies and
the people who download music won’t have
to worry about who is getting the short
end of the stick.
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