Music Downloading: Opposing Opinions

Music Downloading: Opposing Opinions

Is music downloading right or wrong? It has been a debated subject for the past ten years. As a class assignment, we were asked to search for sources that supported our topic. Two articles with opposing viewpoints both supported their viewpoint. They were entitled, “The Government Should Explore Ways of Making File Sharing Legal” and “Introduction to Internet Piracy: At Issue. Both articles were written by James D. Torr. In his first article, he writes about the pros and cons of internet piracy (illegal music and movie downloading). Torr discusses topics such as what piracy really is and the consequences it entails. A downloading program called Napster is talked about frequently, as well as Kazaa (another downloading program). He also discusses both viewpoints in this article, both for and against downloading music for free. In his other article, Torr talks about his thoughts on what the government should do with legalizing music downloading. In both of his writings, Torr discusses the issue of downloading, one at a political point of view and the other from all standpoints. Most downloaders have always sided with free music downloading, but after reading the articles, Torr persuades readers to really take into account the consequences. Even though artists are not receiving pay when their songs are downloaded for free, music downloading should be legal because it makes the world of music more and enjoyable and convenient. Artists make more money from touring than record sales and for every free downloading program, there is another that charges a fee. The programs that charge a fee make it more evenly balanced, financially speaking.

In his articles, Torr discusses music downloading, but from different perspectives. In the first article, “Introduction to the Internet Piracy: At Issue, he really never takes a side on whether or not he thinks downloading should be legal. Torr stays neutral, respecting both opinions and viewpoints. Napster, created by a college student named Shawn Fanning in May 1999 at Northeastern University, was an online music service that enabled users to share and trade digital music and movie files. It was the most popular and most used file sharing program. Napster claimed to have over 20 million users in July 2000. According to Napster’s fans, they argued that Napster was a, “tool for music sharing, not stealing,” and that it gave “new exposure to independent musicians.” Hilary Rosen, the president of the RIAA, disagreed saying what Napster is doing “threatens legit E-commerce models and is legally and morally wrong”. Record industries seemed to agree and filed suit against Napster, which was shut down in July 2001. Many users believe that the RIAA needs to “embrace digital music”, because of programs like iTunes, a newer version of Napster, which charges around $0.99 a song or you can purchase the entire album for a fraction of the cost. One reliable source of music downloading agrees with the people who are for file sharing. For example, John Naughton, a columnist for the Observer, writes that the RIAA’s stance that music downloading is stealing, is considered misleading stating, “Pretending that intellectual property is the same as any other kind of property is misleading…and their expressions”. Naughton also feels online file sharing is not piracy at all, saying, “We