As legal digital music furthered, the industry kept cracking down on those who illegally downloaded music. “Last September [as of 2004], the Recording Industry Association of America began suing individuals for downloading music files - more than 340 cases so far” (“Music Pirates Going Clean”). The RIAA contacted universities across the nation to monitor illegal downloaders. College students' internet activity is easily traced because they connect to the internet through their university's network. When a student is downloading, he/she uses the networks bandwidth. Eventually the ones whom monitor the university's network will detect the user of bandwidth. They will be able to identify that user. The “Journal of Public Policy and Marketing” says that penalizing individuals for file-sharing makes criminals out of good citizens. Individuals pursue pleasure as quickly as possible. Illegal-file sharing seems to be the quickest way to attain music. To an individual, file-sharing seems to be less of a crime because he/she does it from their home. But the devotion to anti-piracy is still shared among digital music retailers.
Certainly the sale of digital music is increasing. Between 2004 and 2005, the amount of single units sold increased by 163 percent, and the amount of album units sold increased by 198 percent (RIAA). It seems that people are buying digital music. But were the industry's attacks on college students effective in stopping piracy? Consider that “Record labels have won court cases…But the software that powered those services, such as Kazaa, eDonkey and WinMX, still resides on millions of computers…more than 1 billion songs are available for illegal trading each month”(“Closed Systems Leave Song buyers Out in the Cold”). As established, MP3's are unencrypted and work with various software applications and hardware appliances. Eventually, courts have even rules in favor of file-sharing Websites. Grokster, the company that sponsors Morpheus, won a court case in which court essentially states, “What people do with the Websites is that person's responsibility, not the Website owner's.” The industry cannot ignore the free collection of music that will inevitably be available to every person with internet access. But it gets worse.
Piracy is so embedded in online music culture that it even found a spot in iTunes. “Apple's iTunes software was designed to allow people to store songs on one Mac and play them on others on their home networks. But users quickly found a way to tweak the system to share their music collections with a wider group of people” (“Song Sharing By iTunes stirs up Piracy Concerns”). The process of establishing software and iTunes-based shareware network took less than two weeks. MyTunes was born: “Bill Zeller, a 20-year-old Trinity College student, wrote and releasted MyTunes just tend days after the official release of iTunes for Windows. His Web site claims that the application is intended to enable users “to save music from other computers to your hard drive” (Dalrymple MacCentral). MyTunes is a legal piracy; Apple permits iTunes users to share playlists. But this means that one need not buy an iPod, or even purchase a single song from the iTunes music store. Apple nearly solved the music industry's most prevalent issues in the past five years. But is has allowed piracy to quickly enter its playing field. ) “It took only a few days for users to configure iTunes so that it could play songs stored on computers anywhere on the Internet. That turned Macs into jukeboxes for others to play” (“Song Sharing By iTunes stirs up Piracy Concerns”).
With file-sharing websites serving as legally active alternatives to subscription music Websites, and Apple's iTunes legally pirated, how is the industry maintaining itself? The industry has resorted to many creative alternatives. They must find sources of income besides the songs themselves because even potential buyers are tempted with free alternatives. It seems that, instead of focusing on marketing songs, it would be best for the music industry to market hardware. Other iPod-like devices are going to be available to the public soon. One example is the Microsoft Zune. It has wireless capabilities. One can share songs between a Zune that is within 10 meters of it, for up to three plays (“Digital Music Beyond "Squirting"”). This may be the most convenient file sharing because one does not need their computer to share songs. Apple also has new developments. It now features iTunes on cell phones such as on the Singular Razor V3I and the Singular Sliver. The phone becomes the iPod. One can listen to up to 100 songs on their cell phone. Optimally, there is no subscription to keep iTunes on these phones; it is ideas such as these, with their reasonable convenience, that may help the music industry's profits.
The industry certainly has struggled because of Napster. The defeat of Napster in court was considered a victory by the industry, but soon after the court gave up on prosecuting file-sharing networks. Also, a nearly infinite library of illegal mp3's is shared across the internet. It appears that people are drawn to piracy because it is quick and convenient. When legal availability of music and music players is fully optimized, the industry will see the lowest amount of piracy. New music players are coming out to combat the iPod; will this competition take money away from Apple and/or from the music industry? Should digital music be sold by one company? While the USA tries to avoid monopolies, it should consider that profits will divide if digital music retailers divide (And, though it is divided, pirated music is united by the fact that it is free). Creative advertising and unique features available by digital retailers could draw more away from pirated music and towards Apple music.
