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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1999)
lie Battalion Aggielife Page 3 • Tuesday, April 27, 1999 Revolution OMHHHP wSRmBamm WKKmmm OMMMP UMMHP OMUMP new &a// game for music industry BY MARIANO CASTILLO The Battalion A sk anyone with a computer and a Resnet connection and they will tell you the temptation to copy pro grams from other students’ computers, and especially to collect the popular MP3 mu sic files, is always there. It is so strong, in fact, that the majority of students on the campus server do not even bother to resist it. MP3s are downloadable audio files that are virtually indistinguishable from CD quality music. Mac Hooke, a freshman mechanical en gineering major, said he has downloaded and played MP3s since he discovered them at Texas A&M, and it does not phase him that it may be legal. “Honestly, I haven’t given much thought that it’s illegal,” he said. “[MP3s] are just all over the place, and I think there is an inability to get caught on campus.” MP3s are the most popular files found on the Resnet not only at A&M, but on servers at universities across the United States. It is, for the most part, very acceptable to create and share songs on MP3, but sev eral laws are being broken. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports the industry loses approximately $5 billion to piracy every year. In the United States, $1 million is lost daily. According to the RIAA, the fastest grow ing field of piracy is online, which they de scribe in their piracy strategy as “the In ternet culture of unlicensed use [that] means the theft of intellectual property is rampant, and the music business and its artists are the biggest victims.” MP3s are not all evil, however. It is legal to back up CDs you paid for on MP3 as long as their use remains private. Wes Weibel, a Computer Information System worker and sophomore electrical en gineering major, said the downloading of MP3s is not seen as a problem. “It’s definitely widespread, but no one is complaining about it,” he said. Campaigns led by the RIAA fight to get MP3s and other pirated software off uni versity servers but with little success. “It's like selling marijuana compared to selling heroin” — Wes Weibel Computer Information Systems worker The RIAA began the Soundbyting cam paign to curb illicit copying and distribution of MP3s and is geared specifically toward universities. Weibel said the Internet makes sup pressing the number of MP3s nearly im possible. “It’s like dubbing cassette tapes. It’s cheap and easy to get songs from all over,” he said. Weibel said while MP3s are the most popular, they are not the only pirated pro grams found on the Resnet. “There is tons of software out there,” he said. “For example, [there is] Photoshop, which you can buy at the MSC for over $300 or download [from the Resnet] at the click of a button for free. ” He said the most popular ripped-off titles are games such as “Quake” and “Starcraft. ” With access to all of these programs, entre preneurs quickly emerge. Students who own CD burners offer to make personalized CDs with MP3s for a small fee. Weibel said selling the CDs and full pro grams are both illegal, but the repercussions for each are very different. “It’s like selling marijuana compared to selling heroin,” he said of the CD burning and the programs, respectively. With CD burners gaining popularity and entering the mainstream, companies are frantically trying to find ways to control dig ital music. A company that has invented an alter native is sightsound.com, which offers mu sic and movie rentals as well as purchases on their Website. Through their site, customers can pur chase either singles or albums and down load them instantaneously for their enjoy ment. Scott Sander, chief executive officer and president of sightsound.com, said in a press release his idea to work on this technology was based on his doubts of the stability of digital music on CDs. “Since 1993, we have been warning the major owners of audio recordings that, by the late 1990s, anyone with a PC would be able to steal CD music at will,” he said. “Our commitment to an open, secure standard for the digital download of enter tainment and our ability to offer the protec tion of two United States patents will make sightsound.com a vital ally of SDMI [Secure Digital Music Initiative] and will be benefi cial to artists, labels and, ultimately, con sumers who prefer to purchase music di rectly over the Internet.” ]0l I UN/VEfi! Sports E0 jni. 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