Radio vs. Audio

Week 8 Blog Post

The radio can be my best friend sometimes. I use it to drown out noise outside of my bedroom while I am working, to drown out my own thoughts at times and as background noise for those days I can’t concentrate in the silence. Most of the time, it is just a sort of company. I don’t actually hear what is playing.

I think most people turn on the radio for the same reasons I do. They might be driving home from work at night and just need to hear something to keep the loneliness at bay or to keep them alert and aware.

There are many people who listen to talk stations and news stations. It is probably easier for them to get their news driving on the way to work or home from work than it is to sit down and read the paper or access the web. Talk radio stations are like news stations. They keep their listeners informed about what is going on in the world, whether it is current events, politics or celebrity gossip.

There are obviously advantages to having so many different types of radio. There is something for everyone to listen to and no one seems to be taking over and trying to push others out. There are just far too many stations.

 

Paying for Music

Week 7 Blog Post

This article on Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/technology/the_gigaom_network/tech_insider/index.html?section=tech_insider&blog=/tech/giga_om/tech_insider/2010/04/23/can_p2p_be_made_to_pay

, argues for music providers to start working with music file sharing instead of trying to put a stop to it. We all know that stopping this file sharing is a losing battle. Companies have to accept this and move on. They have to embrace and adapt.

The article above provides three suggestions on how to pay these companies that provide the music. Out of the three, I think that Ad-supported P2P and user donations will be the most successful with ad-supported as the one on top. Think about it, how many times do we click an interesting advertisement on the side of our Facebook profiles or on Youtube.com? Most of us don’t even realize what we are doing. It is already a huge source of income for thousands of companies. Making the ads on the music sites about the music and the artists is a perfect idea. If we hear a song we like, we want to learn about it and the artist in the hopes that it will lead us to more songs we will enjoy.

I am not sure how successful the user donations would be. I support it because I have many friends who are artists and can’t afford to have their songs given away for free. These donations show them that they are supported and appreciate the way other paychecks never could.

I don’t download music off the web. I rarely buy CDs even though I listen to a lot of the same bands over and over again. If I really like a song I will find it on Youtube.com and add it to one of my playlists there. I don’t have to worry about soring CDs or keeping up with an mp3 player or I-pod. It suits me since the only time I really listen to music is at my desk. I don’t like having headphones in my ears. I like to know what is going on around me and hearing the sounds of the world.

I think that my view is probably pretty average. I know that kids are going to download songs the cheapest way possible and no parent wants their child coming to them every five minutes so they can pay for a song. Children are notorious for clicking ads that interest them. Ad- supported P2P just seems like the right course of action no matter how you look at it.