Can you remember what music was like before the internet? The way that people looked for CDs was completely different from the way that people do today.
Companies like Sam Goody and HMV made hundreds of millions of dollars in sales on a yearly basis since music enthusiasts had no other way to buy high quality albums back then.
Many people even joined music clubs that promised them discounted rates for CDs, as long as they agreed to buy a bunch at full price during the months that followed. Many kids jumped on deals like these, not taking the future prices they'd be paying into consideration.
In the late 1990s, we saw the birth of the MP3 format. People could now listen to music from their computers without the need for a CD. The ability to store things digitally changed the state of music as we know it today.
There was no iTunes back then. While it was possible to buy a few albums digitally here and there, the music industry was still pushing its physical CDs harder than anything else.
A few smart developers thought up the idea to allow people to share their music and other files with the masses. As a result, a number of P2P programs flourished and millions of people were suddenly getting their music for free. No one could have envisioned such a drastic change.
A lot of regulations came into play so it's no longer wise to recklessly download music at no charge. Some users have even gotten in trouble for doing so. Despite this, a number of legal options have emerged that allow people to do the same thing.
Think about what you did for music a few years ago and what you do today. There's a good chance that you're doing something different. With the prevalence of mobile devices that can store songs, many people are downloading music straight to their phones these days. Others are streaming them, which we predict will become the next big trend as cloud computing continues to grow.
Companies like Sam Goody and HMV made hundreds of millions of dollars in sales on a yearly basis since music enthusiasts had no other way to buy high quality albums back then.
Many people even joined music clubs that promised them discounted rates for CDs, as long as they agreed to buy a bunch at full price during the months that followed. Many kids jumped on deals like these, not taking the future prices they'd be paying into consideration.
In the late 1990s, we saw the birth of the MP3 format. People could now listen to music from their computers without the need for a CD. The ability to store things digitally changed the state of music as we know it today.
There was no iTunes back then. While it was possible to buy a few albums digitally here and there, the music industry was still pushing its physical CDs harder than anything else.
A few smart developers thought up the idea to allow people to share their music and other files with the masses. As a result, a number of P2P programs flourished and millions of people were suddenly getting their music for free. No one could have envisioned such a drastic change.
A lot of regulations came into play so it's no longer wise to recklessly download music at no charge. Some users have even gotten in trouble for doing so. Despite this, a number of legal options have emerged that allow people to do the same thing.
Think about what you did for music a few years ago and what you do today. There's a good chance that you're doing something different. With the prevalence of mobile devices that can store songs, many people are downloading music straight to their phones these days. Others are streaming them, which we predict will become the next big trend as cloud computing continues to grow.
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