Greetings,
For your fifth blog entry, react to the following (dealing with electronic media):
Many of you have written about how the Internet is leading to convergence of all the major mass media via the computer. I'm guessing that most of you, like me, watch TV via the computer at least some times (especially while on campus at IC).
Taking into account the social implications of the Internet, post a reaction to how you believe the Internet is changing the landscape of the traditional electronic media (sound recordings, TV, movies).
Should the music industry continue to go after college students for illegally downloading music? Are there any alternatives you might offer to the music industry?
How is the Internet changing TV (think back to the writers' strike video and your reading, as well as your own observations)?
How 'bout the movies? Is the internet making a difference there? If so, how?
Peace,
Jack
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Michael Mathews
ReplyDeleteBlog entry #5
The internet is a very powerful tool that will change the face of electronic media forever. The first thing that strikes me about the internet and media is that the internet has taken over as a means of breaking news. If something major is occurring in the news world, more information than ever before will be available on the internet before any other means of communication including television and radio. Also you will be able to find arm chair analysis on blog websites and even video logs.
Piracy is at an all time high in our country today and the music industry is trying to slam college students with the bill. As soon as the internet was invented, file sharing programs came about. Since then CD sales have been diminishing and many jobs were lost in the music industry. I think it will be very difficult to stop file sharing activity over the internet and I think the industry needs to realize that the world is changing and there’s not much they can do about file sharing over the internet. It’s a harsh reality to those people working in the music business for 30 plus years but I just can’t see a realistic solution to this problem.
The internet has also changed how we as a society view the television as well. Many people are viewing their entertainment off the internet instead of their television. The reason I think this is happening is because the internet is like a never ending T.V. channel guide with billions of channels to choose from. You can watch any rerun of any show you would like, you can watch any movie you want off sites like Netflix, or just listen to any radio station anywhere on the planet. You can now also watch television on other means of technology. With the development of the iPod video, and the more advanced cell phones, you can stream live television onto your devices and watch your shows from anywhere. When I was younger and I was looking for a good laugh it would take me several minutes searching the television to find a program that would make me laugh, now all I do is click once or twice to get on youtube to find a clip that will definitely make me laugh. The reality is people can be lazy given the opportunity and technology is doing exactly that to us.
The Internet is changing the landscape of movies, television, and sound recordings in numerous ways…
ReplyDeleteInternet technology impacts movies, economically, in good ways and in bad ways. Before films could be watched on netflix, they could be downloaded for free on kazaa, but they were pirates. The availability of pirated videos significantly hurt the film industry’s profits. However, their response was not only to take legal action to stop it, but also to create legal ways of getting movies just as easily and with better quality. Movies can be rented and purchased on several different websites. The advancements in technology cause movies to be more affordable to buy. As a result, the film studios are no longer as rich, powerful, or dominant as they were during the studio years, but they aren’t defeated. Likewise, indie producers can make movies at a lower cost and distribute them online. The Internet has also made it possible for alternative types of filmmaking to be more widely distributed. Youtube, for example, while it has many shorts that are like those you would see at a professional short film festival, it also has a lot of videos that involve mindless gags. It also has comediennes and all kinds personalities marketing themselves. My point being that youtube caters to every type of audience, including Nazis, unfortunately. Because of youtube anybody can find something to watch for entertainment or information. The downside of all this diversity and freedom of expression is that hatred can be promoted as well as good content.
Sound recordings fall into the same category as film except that there is more of them available online and have been for a longer period of time. Napster was busted for piracy before anything other than physical products were sold on major online websites such as amazon. I think piracy must be fought, but the websites should be the target enemy, not the consumers. I also think while music is the most popular thing to pirate, it’s a much broader issue than that. All mediums can be pirated and the policies should be the same.
TV shows can also be pirated on the Internet, but also widely distributed online. Youtube has both pirated and legitimate television content on it. CBS has a deal with youtube that allows its content to be posted, while Viacom sued Youtube for pirating $1 billion worth of their content among several channels they own. There are many different shows, such as 24 that have deals with other websites as well. People also can create what’s called a web series, which is like a TV show, except shorter and lower budget.
As someone interested in writing for film and television, I think that writers must be paid for their work. The writer’s guild went on strike in 2007 because they wanted to be paid for Internet usage in addition to film and television distribution of their work. During the strike, television content changed drastically in the absence of writers. Reality TV became more popular because it did not need writers. These shows are still on the air. We are now a society that is entertained by the private lives of strangers.
In today’s age, the Internet is a tool everyone uses to find what they need, whether that be information or to catch a television show they missed that week. With the Internet so many things are changing. People are becoming more dependent on the Internet to watch things that they have missed, to contact people, or to find any information. I think it becomes hard, as we grow older, to imagine a time when we could not find everything on the Internet. The Internet is becoming the basis of everything in the media and will soon be the way that people do everything they want to do.
ReplyDeleteWith the Internet and music, it is difficult to regulate how much music is illegally downloaded. Many students do it and never get caught or in trouble and continue to do it everyday. There are many sites that allow students to download music, such as Ruckus, but these sites do not allow students to transfer these songs to CD’s, which is a common way to share music. It’s difficult to come up with a solution to this problem because it has been happening for so long, without very much progress of fixing it. Also, with the Internet becoming easier to use and more people having access, it makes it harder to stop people from doing what they want.
Television and the Internet have also come a long way. Television shows have been formatted so they can be downloaded onto a person’s computer and then onto a CD or MP3 player or iPod. This allows people to also share their favorite television shows and watch them whenever they want to without buying it. Each channel has its own website with allows everyday students and various people to watch episodes of their favorite shows. This means that not as many people need to buy cable or a television set. If they have access to the Internet they find what they want for free. Without the Internet, all these people would be missing out on things, or have to reschedule what they were already doing if they thought that watching their television was more important. It seems that the Internet may be making television a more important aspect of everyone’s lifestyle.
It seems that movies are transforming just like television is. With sites like hulu and Netflix, it becomes easier to watch movies online. It allows for people to save time; rather than going to the movie store to rent a movie, people can find what they are looking for on one of these channels. Of course, these channels do not show recently released films, only ones that are out or soon to be out on DVD. This allows people to go to the theater to watch movies. There are many sites though that show movies that someone taped in the theater, or show unedited versions of films. As the Internet becomes more advanced, I believe we will see more of music, television, and films online, where everyone has access to them. This may be the cause of many more strikes within these industries, but it is going to be hard to regulate everything that is going on in the Internet world.
The internet has a big influence on our daily lives. Each day, the Internet gets one step closer to becoming the ultimate medium for mass media. The Internet has made significant changes for people everywhere; that point must at least be conceded.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the music industry should continue to go after college students for illegally downloading music. The fact is, most college kids are not buying CD’s anymore. They hardly even listen to the radio. Most of us get new songs by hearing them through our friends. If anything, I’d say the Internet is a good way for an artist’s song to be promoted, since it seems to be the most popular mean for listening to music. Allowing individuals to download music the way we do is how songs grow more and more popular, since people are unwilling to spend the money on CD’s, especially in this economy. People may just want one or two songs by a certain artist and not the whole CD, but you obviously have to buy a whole CD so they’d rather just pass altogether. How does this benefit an artist? Album sales would go down, obviously, should downloading music for free be made legal. But ticket sales for concerts would certainly increase.
With advanced technology has come the integration of the Tv and the Internet. All your favorite shows from the television have been formatted as such that you can now watch them over the Internet or download them to your iPod. The world is now able to watch their shows when and where they want. This allows them to sample a whole lot more shows. The Internet allows us to access our favorite shows for free as well as in a timely manner that is convenient for us. Many people are forced to miss shows that they would like to watch due to their schedules. Now, if they are unable to catch the show at its broadcasted time on TV, they can simply catch it online at a later date or time, which only maintains or even increases the number of viewers of that program.
Movies have also been made available to be viewed online at certain websites. Rather than having a timetable for a rented movie, you can watch a video online and stop it for as long as you have to (minutes, hours, days) and come back to it whenever you want. You no longer have to worry about missing your favorite movie that is finally being shown on TV. The Internet is becoming the future.