Online Music
There are a variety of sources for anyone seeking music online . However, the legality of these online music sources varies from one service to another. Some methods which were once illegal means of obtaining music online have since become legal, while some sites which allow users to download music remain outside of the law. The most popular method of online music delivery however is completely legal.
Online music downloads were first made popular by the application Napster. Napster was founded in June 1999 by Sean Fanning and Sean Parker. Fanning, a student at Northeastern University in Boston was searching for a simple method to find music online without having to go through existing search engines to find online music. Although MP3 music downloads were already popular before the creation of Napster, it was the first application to provide a centralized database, and a simple and user-friendly interface for people looking for music online. The popularity of the service peaked in February of 2001, with 26.4 million verified users around the world using the application to download music. However, the record companies, upset that people were able to obtain music online without paying for them organized themselves into the Recording Industry Association of America and sought an injunction against Napster because online music downloads without paying the record companies violated copyright. A March 2001 court injunction forced Napster to cease allowing users to download music. Napster was forced to shut down for a period of time. In an attempt to satisfy the restitution it was obliged to provide the RIAA, Napster attempted to charge for online music. After whetting its appetite with free music downloads the public found other options.
Following Napster’s shut down, music downloads ceased to be hosted by a central server, making it harder for the RIAA to stop widespread efforts to download music. Since the files were now on individual computers the RIAA elected to now go after those users whose music downloads were the most voluminous. These users were now using peer-2-peer file sharing applications. Some of the most popular of these which are still in use include Kazaa and Limewire. These systems probably cover a larger volume of music downloads than Napster did at its peak, however the volume of music downloads is difficult to determine because of the decentralized way in which the programs’ users download music. One of the complaints often leveled against peer-2-peer file sharing is that users are dependent upon the number of users with the desired file online, as well as upon a fast internet connection. One way around this obstacle to getting music online is the use of torrent files, which share data between multiple users at once, and are hosted on websites.
The most successful music downloading method however was found by Apple. Its introduction of the Apple store, which allows users to download most singles for less than one dollar and many albums for less than ten appears to have found a price which many users are willing to pay in order to download music legally.
