Music+Streaming

Music Streaming

 * Music Streaming-** Music streaming websites are places where you can listen to and/or download music for free. They allow you to search for your favorite artist, pick almost any song from that artists catalogue, and listen to it, for the most part, as many times as you want. The features typically vary between websites. For example, some websites give you the option to create your own personal radio station based on a genre of music, or an artist of your choosing. Other websites allow you to compile playlists from their music database, and share them with your friends online. Some websites are not exclusively free. [|Napster] allows you to access a certain number of songs for free, but if you want to utilize their entire library you're required to pay a small fee (this varies between websites). The most popular music streaming websites include [|Last.fm], [|Pandora], [|MySpaceMusic], [|Dizzler], and [|Napster].
 * Music Download-** An option that is frequently available to visitors of these websites is downloading music. Not all music streaming websites allow you to download music, but most do. This option is almost always not free. There are exceptions, though, like the website [|4shared]. Typically, there will be a link next the song that you are streaming that says 'Download Track' or 'Buy'. An example of this is shown [|here]. This will typically direct you to either [|iTunes], [|Amazon], or [|Amazon mp3] where you can either purchase the song for $0.99, or purchase the entire album for around $9.99. The reason that you can stream songs for free, but you can't download them for free is that there are copyright protections put in place by record labels. Music copyright law states that if anyone wants to legally distribute an artist's music, they must obtain a license and pay the artist a royalty fee. This is why it's usually illegal to download music for free, except in very specific circumstances such as a promotion done by a band. The website [|Dizzler] does not make the download option available to you. Streaming is the only option on this website. It is also possible to download music through BitTorrent applications, such as [|Ares] or [|Limewire]. These applications may infringe on copyright laws in certain cases, so it's important to read into it before using any of them. For more information see the file sharing page.


 * In the classroom students are not discouraged from downloading music legally, but the student needs to take into consideration the limited space on the server. The average file size for an mp3 is roughly 5 mb, and the average student is given 100 mb of storage space on the server. This means that each student is limited to well under 50 songs, if they want to use the server for something other than music.**


 * Networking-** An innovation that nearly all of these streaming websites have in common is the ability to network, much as you would on places such as facebook or myspace. The main difference is that music streaming websites allow you to network exclusively through music. [|MySpaceMusic], [|Dizzler], and [|Last.fm] give you the option to compile playlists, and make them available for your friends to see. The purpose of this feature is to expose people to music that they may not have previously heard. [|Last.fm] takes this feature a step further, and keeps track of your most frequently played songs and genres. It compiles them into charts that can be made available on your page, or sent to any of your friends. Music streaming websites also give you the ability to start groups, send messages to your friends, and post concerts that you wish to attend.

The video below gives a good synopsis of many things that I outlined above.

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