At one time, not that long ago, Internet users looking for a social media experience went immediately to MySpace. There, they could update their profile, post messages, and talk to their friends. The site was mainly a hit with teenagers, but featured a great space for independent musicians to get their music featured because of the large media section on the site.
The music industry, which has spent the decade since they effectively sued Napster out of business, has watched their market shrink for years. The business leaders within the music industry blamed digital downloads of music, specifically pirated downloads, for the steady decline in revenues. But 2011 showed some interesting trends in the music industry which suggests that the executives may have simply been grossly impatient with their emerging market.
In 2011, for the first time ever, digital music sales grossed more money for the music industry than physical media (compact discs) did. While the music industry claimed that digital music would outstrip physical media sales back when Napster was in operation, the decade between its demise and the reaching of this milestone suggests that the music industry did not know how to effectively exploit the new medium and sales path. After all, if pirating music had been the sole problem with the music industry making money off digital downloads, as soon as Napster was shuttered and iTunes started selling digital downloads, the music industry would have met their goal of selling more digital downloads than physical discs.
It can be tempting to “share” songs via software like Kazaa or LimeWire rather than buying them. Such practices are not only illegal most of the time, but pose a serious threat to your Internet security. Downloading files using P2P (Peer-to-Peer) sharing software is one of the worst Internet security practices that users can employ. By downloading music or other files using such software, you could be inviting a conglomeration of malware to infest your computer. Even a small breach of your Internet security can cause you to spend lots of money on virus removal and, in some cases, identity theft problems.
Though LimeWire is no longer available for download due to legal reasons, users with older versions of the software on their machines can still use it, and can therefore still endanger their Internet security. Even when users don’t use LimeWire to share files, their Internet security is susceptible because the program automatically runs in the background, allowing strangers access to a user’s files!
When you opt to participate in P2P sharing, you can’t normally control what files you share. This lack of control can lead to your participating in copyright infringement, having your device infected with malware, and consequently requiring virus removal.
Perhaps the worst part of getting viruses from P2P sharing software is that we willingly invite them in. It’s like volunteering to spend time and money on virus removal. Sometimes, Internet security problems are hard to identify, but when threats are this obvious, there’s no excuse to fall for them.
If you’re looking for free music, YouTube is a great alternative. Watching music videos on YouTube poses far fewer threats to your Internet security, as viruses cannot usually target media files. Internet security problems that occur while on YouTube might be related to bugs in Adobe Flash player, but these are rare. Besides, Flash is constantly updated to eliminate bugs and ensure Internet security.
On the other hand, if you’re feeling overtly philanthropic and want to support the music industry by more than just illegally downloading songs, then consider buying the music! Amazon and Apple both sell music by the song, as do dozens of other sites. The great news is, music services like these are legal and don’t come with the added expense of virus removal.
Given the time and effort needed for virus removal, it is always better to make sure you have strong Internet security and to avoid using software like Limewire and Kazaa. After all, paying for a song or three is a lot cheaper than paying for virus removal.
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RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.
For More Information, Contact:
David Milman, CEO
315-882-1100
david@rescuecom.com