No supply exists because digital files can be copied and distributed an unlimited amount of times. Because the Internet breaks the most basic economic principle, is not regulated, and is based on a non-commercial foundation, many record companies believe it poses a threat to their copyright on musical recordings and ultimately to their livelihood as a business. On this account, the commercial music industry is watching the Internet very closely and trying to use their influential voice to target and destroy the exchange of digital music files commonly known as MP3 files.
Ten years ago, nobody would have imagined over 70 million people would actively trade these digital MP3 files (Roy 1). Combined with the Internet, MP3s have become the easiest and most popular way to distribute music. This new digital compression format isn't just for tech-savvy teens. Although MP3 trading started at college campuses, the technology has broadened its horizons. The majority of Internet users download MP3 files. Because MP3s are often pirated copies of music protected by copyright law, the music industry is filing lawsuits against the P2P software companies. The software companies supporting MP3s are counter-suing in an effort to protect this technology that has many uses beyond the infringement of copyright (Borland 1). As the technology progresses and the lawsuits continue to mount, the media is covering the entire story as it unfolds in front of our eyes. How did this controversial technology come to be?.
MP3 is short for Moving Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer 3, and is a compression format that shrinks audio files with only a small sacrifice in sound quality. MP3 files can be compressed at different rates, but the more they are compressed, the poorer the sound quality. Most MP3 users compress files at a 10:1 ratio which still provides CD quality sound. This means if the original file " usually a song off a compact disc " was 50 megabytes, then the MP3 of the same song would be five megabytes (Jones 1).
