Why_Shouldn't_You_Illegally_Download_Music_

Why Shouldn’t You Illegally Download Music' Computers provide us with access to everything these days. They can allow us to talk to friends, work on a school assignment, and listen to our favorite artist’s new CD- all at the same time! Why would anyone continue to buy hard copies of CDs when it is easier to simply buy an electronic copy online' Just like the hard copies though, there are illegal versions of albums. A lot of times they are cheaper, or free, than the legal copies, but they are most likely going to be bad quality. Many people still illegally download music even though there are risks and reasons why they should not: your IP address can be traced by the police, distributors can implant viruses that can affect your computer, and many people are effected by the loss of money. I don’t own that many hard copies of my CDs these days and buy most of my new music on iTunes. I must admit, most of the time whenever I see the price of the music, I groan and contemplate whether or not I should purchase the songs or the whole CD. With iTunes, we have the option of simply buying one single song from an album instead of purchasing the whole CD from a store. There have been many occasions where I purchase the entire album on iTunes, but only end up listening to two or three songs off of it. I get upset with myself for wasting money on songs that I don’t even listen to. Especially since iTunes raised the prices of individual songs, and albums as a whole, I really didn’t feel like spending my money on something I wasn’t even sure I would enjoy. I looked into downloading music off the Internet and different softwares for free. Since many young adults are still dependent on their parents for money, it is difficult to persuade them to agree that iTunes is a good place for their money to be spent. Free music software was very tempting to use, until I learned about the risks to my computer and myself by reading articles online. In an English class in high school, the topic of illegal downloading came up. I learned that day how many people are affected by the loss of money from illegal downloading. After learning all of this information, I vowed that I wouldn’t use any form of illegal use of media, and that I would try to tell other people about the risks and the effects on others. Programmers are trying to make new software for illegal downloading everyday. There are a few that many can say right off the top of their heads, Limewire for example. Most of these softwares need to be downloaded onto the actual computer via the Internet. Many of these softwares are well known, by consumers and also by the police. The police monitor Limewire and other softwares to see if people are using it illegally. If the police have suspicion of a person illegally downloading too much, they can trace the IP address of the computer, right to the very house that it is in. This is how many teenagers can get caught for illegal downloading and get arrested. Although it may seem unlikely that teenagers can get arrested for illegal downloading, it does happen. It is true that many of the people that do get arrested are those that distribute the illegal forms of media. However, if one person downloads a lot of illegal media, they can and most likely will get caught. Once arrested, a person would have to post bail to be released and they would get a court hearing date. This means that the person would then have to hire a lawyer to represent them in court. If found guilty, which they most likely would be considering there is a substantial amount of evidence against them, they would have to pay a fine and most likely go back to jail to complete their sentence. All of these fines and money spent of lawyers and bails make paying for a CD sound like less of a problem. Before illegally downloading, a person should think about how much time and money they might end up costing themselves. Viruses are a computer user’s worst nightmare. If a computer gets a virus, all the data on said computer could be lost forever. This includes all the music, movies, and books a person could have stored in their computer. Many illegal versions of media that can be downloaded onto a computer carry a virus that the distributors put on there. These viruses can be in your computer without you knowing it. Some of these viruses allow the distributor to gather information that you are putting into your computer, for example, your credit card number when you are buying something online. Other viruses simply crash your computer and delete all the documents that were on there. Viruses on computers are very serious and can be easily transmitted through emails or shared USB cables. Viruses are not enjoyable to get onto your computer, and even less enjoyable if they mess up any documentations. I have contracted a virus onto my computer from a friend sending me an email that had a virus in it. She was notorious for downloading music illegally even though she knew that she could get viruses. This was during junior year of high school, a time when I had a lot of schoolwork and was easily stressed out. The virus made my computer crash and I lost a lot of work I had previously done. Thankfully I had backups of all my recent documents, but a lot of the work I did a few months before was completely lost. Also, before I realized I had contracted a virus on my computer, I sent emails to teachers, friends, and family members. Not all of them contracted the virus, but some did. I felt horrible for making them go through what I had been through, even though I wasn’t even the source of the problem. Before downloading illegal media sources, people should reflect on whose computers they may be harming, because it could easily turn into a wildfire of viruses. The music companies lose money with every song illegally downloaded. In June 2009, it was recorded in the United Kingdom that millions of songs are illegally downloaded daily. (Arthur, 2009) Earlier that year, the IFPI, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, released that 95 percent of all music was illegally downloaded. (Yam, 2009) The 5 percent of music that wasn’t illegally downloaded equates to about 3.7 billion dollars. The 95 percent of music that was downloaded illegally measure out to about 76 billion dollars, or 48 billion pounds in the UK. (Adams, 2009) All of this money that the companies have lost affects the salaries of the workers from the famous artists to the janitors. To make up for lost money, the companies take money out of the workers’ paychecks. If illegal downloading stopped, many of the lower class workers, the janitors and the maintenance crew-members, could receive their paychecks in full. The illegal downloading of music doesn’t just affect the artists and the music labels. There are different jobs that work to put out albums. Most teenagers and young adults do not think of janitors or factory workers when they think of the music industry. In the case of hard copies, there are the workers that work in factories to put the CDs in the cases, the album artwork in the case, and to wrap the case with plastic wrap. If these are done with machines, then the people that work to take care of the machines lose money. At the recording studios, there are janitors and maintenance crews that keep the building sanitary and safe. These factory workers, janitors, and maintenance workers’ salaries are paid for by the money record labels make off of albums or songs they release. In the case of iTunes, there are the Apple company workers who put together the specific page for the music who lose their share of profits. Also, just in general, the artist, the music label, the production company, and the stylists, photographers, and additional artists who collaborated with the artist or the company lose money. It does not seem like a very big deal for very big artists, like Lady Gaga, who already have a lot of money, but for sound mixers, losing money from no album sales can be detrimental to eating or paying rent. Without album sale money, these workers could lose everything. Illegal downloading doesn’t just hurt the companies that produce media, but it could also harm you and your computer. People that download illegally always run the risk of being arrested or contracting a virus onto their computer. After downloading illegally, it can be difficult to feel guilty because music is costly these days, but people should feel guilty because they have stolen the opportunity for people to make money. It also exposes people you talk to on the computer to viruses as well. Illegal downloading is not legal and is punished for a reason. Works Cited Adams, Sean (2009, January 16). 95% of music downloads in 2008 were illegal - DiS reacts and suggests two solutions. Retrieved from http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136081-95-of-music-downloads-in-2008-were-illegal-dis-reacts-and-suggests-two-solutions Arthur, Charles (2009, June 9). Are downloads really killing the music industry' Or is it something else' Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/jun/09/games-dvd-music-downloads-piracy Yam, Marcus (2009, January 16). Shocking: 95 Percent Music Downloads Still Illegal. Retrieved from http://www.tomsguide.com/us/mp3-downloads-music-piracy-ifpi,news-3315.html