Mp3 what is it? Why at one time where those in the record company industry afraid of it until they developed a acceptable format? Well, I am not going to provide a textbook answer to these questions but after thinking about it I have come to my own conclusion about it. From my understanding all an mp3 is a compressed sound recording format that enables musicians to record their music and to allow for people to download their music via the internet to one's own computer. In order to listen to the music a user must have a mp3 player. A advantage for the artist is that it gets the music straight to anyone who is interested in their work.

    What was the record companies fear? Mp3 was going to all of the sudden put them out of business. They were concerned that people were going to download all this music and they were not going to get a piece of the action. Sony and Universal Music Group have devised a way to come up with a secure format that fans of the artists on their labels can download new music from their artists for a fee.

    So what do I think about all of this? I think mp3's is more hype than what it claims to be. A big concern which is a legitimate one is the piracy issue. I believe no matter which medium that recorded music is released , there will always be people trying to distribute it illegally (selling it for money) without the compensating the artist and the record company getting what is respectfully theirs. Its no secret that record companies and artists are currently dealing with problems with people selling bootleg copies of their work in the CD and cassette form. If people and/or artists choose to post previously released music for free on their respective web sites I have no problem with that. I think that it is no different than if I had bought an album and lent it to someone to make a copy of it on a blank cassette tape. Of course, if I were an artist or a record company I would have preferred that my work would have been purchased by the listener but it has happened in the past and will continue to happen. I myself have made copies of original albums on blank cassette and have lent out albums that I have bought so others can do the same. If mp3's would do anything it would allow for new artists with computer access to promote their music on the internet. It also could provide another avenue for A&Rs' of record companies to search for new prospects. Unless the cost of recordable CD drives go down considerably anytime soon, I doubt that the record companies have anything to worry about.
    Mp3s? Download them from trusted sites. Mp3s are simply the cassette tapes of the internet.
 

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