Technology has impacted and changed many things in our lives, including the way we listen to and obtain music. Remember the days of waiting for your favorite artist or band to put out their new CD? Those days are gone. Why wait when you can get your hands on the newest songs by the newest bands easily and sometimes even for free?
It used to be that you had to wait and wait for your favorite artist or band to release their new album in stores. Some even waited until midnight on the morning of the release date for the store to put out the new album on shelves. Today is a lot different, although you can still go to the store and buy your favorite CD, it’s not the popular method for obtaining music anymore.
Since Apple products like iTunes and the iPod have hit the market, listening to and obtaining music has forever changed. Instead of listening to music on CD “tracks” or a videocassette tape, you can purchase an MP3 file through iTunes or another media player and upload it to your MP3 player, or the most popular, iPod.
The iPod originally launched in October 2001. In the last decade, the iPod has evolved exponentially not only from shape and size, but from being solely an MP3 player to a portable computer. iTunes is the media player that serves as a main hub for purchasing downloading, organizing and playing music. iTunes and iPods both work on Macs and Windows operating systems.
Unfortunately there is a downside to all this great music technology. Before the iPod, there was Napster. Napster was a program that opened the gates to downloading any kind of music for free. Napster was designed by a Northeastern University student back in 1999. Since we were new to the Internet at the time and didn’t know how to handle it, no one thought of the repercussions this could have on society. Many artists and bands complained that Napster illegally distributed copyright material (music, songs, and even film) to users. Napster only ran between 1999 and 2001 until it was shut down by popular vote that it was violating copyright laws.
Technology has also changed the way we listen to the radio. Why listen to a clunky radio when you can streamline Internet radio? Services like Pandora offer free Internet radio to its online users. It is much easier to streamline Internet radio while you are on your computer at work or studying. Pandora and even YouTube offer free accounts where you can login and listen to your favorite songs and artists or watch their videos.
Internet radio and YouTube have also helped underground bands rise to the surface. Bands in the past had to fight and try to sell their music to get radio play time. Today, we don’t rely on listening to the radio to hear new songs or new artists. With YouTube, Internet radio, iTunes, and even Facebook at our fingertips, its easier for artists to become known and heard.
The future of music is already here and it is continuously changing. The days of radio stations using radio frequencies and compact discs are dying out. Less and less of today’s generation listen to radio stations. The constant ads, commercials, and talk shows are boring and annoying. It much more pleasurable to plug in your iPod and listen to the music YOU want to listen to.
Read more at Charles Granere and his admiration for information technology.
categories: inventions,social media,mp3,music,internet radio,information technology,networking,programming,computers,internet,fun