"THE HEAVEN FOR PIRACY"....SAID DR DRE!!!!

The incident that happened in 2001 between Napster and Rapper Dr Dre and rock group Metallica, made me think about the poor artists taht are affected by websites that enable the public to download free music.Before I get to all that, let me start at the begining....

What is Napster? (well I am proud to say that I am sticking to my "techno-learning challenge". Eversince I decided to educate myself about the internet, new media and technology as a whole, I've learnt lots of interesting things that I didin't know and I got to gain insight on things that I knew about but didn't really understand. take the Napster/Dr Dre /Metallica fiasco for instance. As a lover of music, I like to follow what is going on in the media industry, however, because I didn't know what napster was and hat it was about, I couldn't exactly follow the lawsuit). Napster was an online music file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning and operated between June 1999 and July 2001 while he was attending Northeastern University in Boston. This is before it was shutdown due to the Recording Industry Association of America, many copyright lawsuits and eventual bankruptcy.

The whole ordeal began when heavy Metal band Metallica discovered that a demo of their song "I disappeared" had been circulating across the napster network before they had released it. the band responded by filing a lawsuit against napster. A month later, rapper Dr Dre filed a similar lawsuit after napstrer wouldn't remove his work from their service. After that many other lawsuits came knocking on napster's door from record labels and many other recording companies. Amongst others, the most serious claims that were made against napster were:

1. that its users and napster were directly infringing the artists'/ company/'s copyright of the music

2. that napster was liable for vicarious infringement of their copyright.

The court found napster guilty. in 2001, napster finally declared itself bankrupt and sold its assests.

After a $2.43 million takeover offer by the Private Media Group, an adult entertainment company,Napster's brand and logos were acquired at bankruptcy auction by the company Roxio, Inc. which used them to rebrand the pressplay music service as Napster 2.0, which is an online music service offering a variety of purchase and subscription models. their main competitors are itunes and Apple Inc. Napster 2.0 is not a peer-to-peer service, but besides the name and logo this new version does contain some features (such as artist, album and song search) similar to those of the original Napster. This is a much better alternative, and it is a win-win situation beacuse the artist's rights are still protected and they don't lose any money from their hard work. however, there is now teh newly formed Napster free. which is exactly what it says it is in the name. It where people can download and listen to free music. I guess the saying remains.. "the more things change, the more they remain the same!!!"

THE RELEVANCE OF SOFTWARE...

The last time I communicated with you guys, I was on the idea of software. It is quite evident that most people are unaware of software, but are rather more acknowledged about the idea of hardware. Most people are interested on the tangible material rather than the intangible. We as human beings have made the habit of focussing ourselves in things which visibly help us, which seem more efficient to us, and things that require less thinking and more doing. Now I have seen a couple of times that whenever I mention to someone something related to software, they jump right at me because they find it quite complex and very difficult to understand. A majority of people find the idea of software quite dense and irrelevant. A typical customer at a computer shop does not necessarily focus on the software when buying a computer, but rather, their prior engagement when purchasing a computer is what the computer looks like, and the special features that it carries. Most people have forgotten that the features that the computer carries are only there because they have been made possible through the input of software. I guess it would be typical that a customer would perform in this kind of mindset. When one seriously ponders around the idea, you wouldn't go to a bakery and ask who made the cake you are eating; it would simply be regarded as abnormal and the person selling the cake to you would certainly think you are 'coo-coo!

P D Marshall states that the development of the software that runs on the hardware of computer is thus generated code that builds layers of code to produce the graphic user interface we are used to seeing on the computer screens.

You know, most of us are unaware that the good stuff that the computer provides us is made possible buy software. Even the things that drive us to buy a computer are triggered by the idea of software. Software such as Microsoft, the Internet are things that drive us to buy a computer and they are software. Without these things, one would probably not bother to purchase a computer.

Now software has a great impact to the music we listen to. I mean, when you think about it, music is transcended from one person to another throught the means of software. When we look at the current generation, the influence of cellphones is abundant upon most nations. A common method of transcending music within those nations is through cellphone. Software has been created to better suit the efficiency of transcending music from one person to the other. An updated computer would have 'bluetooth'. Now bluetooth is a software device that aids the transcending of music between cellphones. This type of software is one which is vbery effective. It is almost like a mouse which can smell cheese from far away. If one has their bluetooth on, everyone else who has it on will automatically be invited to the user at the time. And for that, bluetooth devices can be said to be quite universal as they are open to all that have access to it.

Therefore, I conclude with saying that cellphone software acts as an aid to the growth of music popularity due to the new software that has developed with it, such as Bluetooth etcetera.

I'VE BEEN TUNED!!!

Now it is a well known fact that I Zamani Mcina am absolutely hopeless and clueless when it comes to technology. I'm not even exaggerating. I absolutely now nothing. I didn't even know what Apple was until very recently. I am still clueless about simple things like GPRS on my phone. It's Shameful, I know, but what can I say, I guess I'm just lazy or maybe its fear. You're probably wondering how a 3rd year media student can be afraid of technology. It's absolutely ridiculous but sadly it's true and i know I'm not alone (I hope). Things are getting even worse now. To my horror, when I recturned to varsity this year. The aweful thing happened to me. "What on earth?" I said in Horror as I opened Microsoft Word to type an assignment. For some only God knows reason, my much loved and trusted and most importantly, not complicated Microscoft 2003, had been replaced by something from hell called Microsoft 2007. This is teh most complicated thing I've ever come across. "Who is this person taht hates me so much and iis trying to make my life a living hell?" I thought to myself. I psent hours infront of theh computer trying to figure this thing out. i was beyond embarrest because i swear people were staring at me, but no one offered to help me. This made me realize taht no matter what I think or how I feel about it, technology is a part of my life and its here to stay, so I may as well get acustommed to it quickly and overcome my fear of technology beacuse I am getting further and further behind. So right then I decided that instead of avoiding and running away from technology and the new media, I'm actually going to teach myself about it and get involved and engage in it so tat i will not be alienated. so I've logged onto Fcaebook (and not just as a media 201 assignment must). I am proudd to say I am officially part of the online society.

So following up with my journey of "techno discovery", yesterday I GOT TUNED!! That is to say, i logged onto i-tunes. As I was googling Apple because I finally decided I was tired of being the only person I know who doesn't know what Apple is, I came across i-tunes. Being teh music lover that I am, when I see or hear anything about tunes, my curiousity or should I say the journilist within swithched onto alertness mode and I just have to know more. So I clicked onto the icon and the rest is history.

For all those who don't know (I am hoping that there are some fellow clueless people out there). i-tunes is Apple's very popoular online music store. It offers purchase links to songs, as well as ipod player and accessories. I was so surprise to learn that there are other cool downloading websites out there apart from Youtube. As I am so concerned about the ethical implicationsof downloading. I was very pleased to see that music on i-tunes is for sale not jusr free music that we can download (steal) off the internet. I even saw links to American Idols (which is one of my favourite). I voted online. And I even purchased some music. It was a new experioence for me beacuse I am so used to just bluetoothing music from friends' phones onto my phone. Get Tuned people!! it's great!!

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE???

In the New Media world, we hear of hardware and software, but what are these things. We probably have better knowledge of hardware because it is the first thing that comes to mind when we try and purchase New Media merchandise. Hardware essentially looks at the tangible material that one purchases, it is the physical stuff that we buy. Hardware can be said to be things like PCs, laptops, MP3s and even IPods. Indeed, when we go into a store, we don't start asking where the hardware is, we are more familiarised with the term 'equipment', or for that matter, 'merchandise'.

I am not trying to raise a point that not talking 'New Media' language is not 'in' or simply out of fashion, but I personally feel that people should engage themselves into such things. Having better knowledge of these terms can expand one's knowledge base, and not only this, it can also expand one's horizons in terms of being alert in this new world of 'technology'.

Now we have passed the idea of hardware, but what is software?

Software is often divided into two categories:
systems software : Includes the operating system and all the utilities that enable the computer to function.
applications software : Includes programs that do real work for users. For example, word processors, spreadsheets, and database management systems fall under the category of applications software.

(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/software.html: 25/04/08-09:40(

It looks at the intangible part of the hardware system; for some reason, people have found the idea of software very intimidating and abstract; it's only a matter of following instructions. When one really thinks about it, software programmes try in everyway convey instruction to us in a very subversive manner. Just think of the icons one finds on their PCs, they have trash-cans to convey recycling bins, even closer to home, we find that we have dollar signs which signify printing credits etctera. Essentially, what I am trying to elaborate on is that software is quite understandable if one took the time to notice.

Software tends to be the one component of technology that people are really ignorant about. People have a tendency of thinking that software has to do with Bill Gates' Microsoft programme. Yes, Bill Gate did develop the Microsoft programme, and it seems to be worldly renowned and a fast money making scheme, but this is not where software begins and ends. Bill Gates might have begun the software, but this is not where it ends, other softwares have been developed afterwards. We find different softwares nowadays; we now have softwares for our MP3s, IPODs, even phones now have anti-virus software.

Conclusively, the message I am trying to get across is that software is an essential part of hardware, and that hardware would not exist without it. So next time you try to purchase something, do not forget that in order for that 'merchandise' to function, software had to be part of the deal!!

Music dates back as far as our great grandfathers would remember, and I am quite sure that even if you were to ask them when music evolved, they would have absolutely no idea. Music evolved when during the time before christ and has evolved over the centuries. It has revolutionised itself timeously through the centuries and has continously been used by people to transcend messages to each other. Music is a cherished part of human living because it has proved itself to be an easy route of communicating messages to a vast amount of society. Music is mainly a representation of human thought and feeling, for some communities, it is a ritual performed in honourof someone or something.

In the 20th century, the adoration of music by people increased tremendously, which saw the the evolution of certain technologies. It is amazing to find that technology and music work hand-in-hand. When music evolves, technolgy evolves generally in support of the music ideal. As I was stating, music saw a rise in the 20th century, and because of this, it was accompanied by evolution of the radio technology. People acquired radio to listen to music, and because of this, the love of music increased.

Although music has managed to revolutionise itself over the centuries, unlike technology (where one finds that the computer replaces the typewriter and so on and so on) music has not comletely lost its essense. Indeed, it has been modified and rejuvenated by generations, but the idea of messaging has not been completely deleted. The old has not been completely replaced by the new as one finds that old songs have now been re-formed to accomodate the youth. Songs such as Stuck on you by Lionel Richie and Forever Mine by The Commodors have been 'remixed' ( a term used to describe a remodification of a song). This proves how song has been re-adapted to account as meaning for the present generation.

THEFT!!!.....or maybe not????????

Downloading is the simplest and easiest way for a person to get ahold of things like music, movies and even videos. It's so easy that it leaves no room for serious thought about the consequences. Thus, we just enjoy the benefits of downloading and hardly ever stop to think of the implications and effects it has on the artists and the music industry as a whole. what isn't so simple about downloading music is the copyright protection laws that people break everyday when downloading tracks off the Internet. however, not all music is protected. Some music can be lawfully downloaded but the laws regarding music downloading varies from country to country. in the United States, downloading is governed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which strictly deems downloading of copyrighted music illegal. however, there is an exception to making a copy for your own person use. In south Africa. Downloading has a huge impact on the music industry. This is due to the fact that people are no longer purchasing Cd's because they can get the music for free off the Internet. it is alleged that the music industry has lost more than 20% globally in sales since 1999. this loss unfortunately affects the industry as a whole including the musicians, sound technicians, recording studios and even the music stores, who make their living through this music that we are literally stealing. thus i am left confused because, it is clear that music downloading is unlawful and ethically wrong, when you consider that we are just taking other people's work free off charge. the question that lingers in my mind and is the result of my confusion is, why is there still an influx of software that allows the ripping and burning of music if these activities are so wrong and destructive?

zamani mcina

THE PHENOMENON!!!!

So you're looking for the latest chart topping songs or perhaps you're looking to make a music compilation for your ipod or CD Walkman. well look no further!! technology has come to your rescue. now you don't have to go all the way to Musica or any other music store to buy an entire album, when you actually just like one song on the album. gone are the days of listening to your favourite songs through the headphones at the music store, or even worse, hearing the song once on the radio then spend most of your days hoping that the DJ will play it again. Nowadays, all we have to do is open a program, select tracks that we like and download them. downloading is a phenomenon that has been occurring for decades. We've all done it at some point in our lives; whether it be transferring photos from a camera memory card to the computer or bluetoothing the latest tunes from a friend's phone. but what exactly is this trend that seems to have taken the entire world by storm? Downloading is the transmission of a file from one computer system to another. To download a file is to request it from another computer (or from a Web page on another computer) and to receive it. i felt it necessary to give a brief definition of what downloading is before any further discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of this phenomenon.