Effects Of The Internet: Musical Mobility

MMost people have become very familiar with the internet, and all associated software. In fact, with the advancement of technology, most people have become familiar with all sorts of new little devices and technologies that have flourished because of the internet. Of course, I’m talking about your basic little iPod or MP3 player. Both are mobile as far as the battery will last, and ranged as far as a set of headphones will take you. We’re nearing the point now where it’s gone beyond the MTV generation and is stretching to a point where most people, aged eighteen to forty, own one of these fancy little devices.

Now, this links to the internet fairly simply. It starts with the computer link. You load your mobile musical device, or MMD, with whatever music you enjoy, through your computer. This is either done through a specific media player, or just through copy and pasting folder to folder. The internet comes in to play here through the availability of music through it. Before the internet, there was no reliable method by which to load yours MMDs, so there was no real need for them, and this is a fairly worrying fact.

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You’ve been able to buy CDs for a long time. Admittedly, not as long as vinyl or tape, but it’s a good trade off. Since the development of technology reached the point that CDs could be ripped onto your PC, MMDs have been under development to design, create and make profit from. However, they were nowhere near as popular before broadband internet and free, fast, illegal mp3 downloads became common. Being able to listen to a track on the move made particular tracks much more desirable. Something that you’ve heard on the radio is something that you might go out and buy, but it’s less likely that you’ll buy it if it’s something that you won’t listen to often. Being able to listen to it in the back and forth between point A and point B has convinced people that, instead of merely wanting it, they need that track to be available.

There’s also a certain danger when it comes to listening to music on the move. After all, your ears are already under complete distraction, so you can’t hear what’s coming behind you. You are so consumed with your chosen distraction that you’ve lost interest in the safety. This is exactly the same as the moral implications when it comes to track downloading. You’re so absorbed in the smaller picture that you don’t even know that there’s a bigger one to overshadow it.

The money is obviously made with the sales of MMDs, but with iPods in particular, there are other avenues. With an iPod comes a copy of the media player iTunes. This is a clear advertisement of Apple software, even on a Microsoft operating system. In addition, iTunes software brings several other types of software with it, all of which has paid money to Apple in order to have the advertisement. Having their software installed, alongside iTunes, onto as many computers as possible has no viable downside when people are proven to use the product.

Without a doubt, the internet has pushed the advertising and development of MMDs, as well as offering them additional financial possibilities. You can never really doubt how useful these little things are in travel, but it’s also fairly clear that the distraction that they offer have downsides too. Most people might swear by them without a question, but in reality it’s yet another accessory that the internet has made essential.

Tom Colohue is a fiction writer and music instructor from Blackpool, England. Though his main works are in the realms of fantasy, he also writes modern fiction for multiple websites, as well as theoretical and practical music lessons for magazines.

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