Music and its creation have undergone radical changes the past few decades, more so in the past few years. With the advent of computers and the internet, the whole concept of creating wholesome, lively music has undergone a transformation. No longer are we dependent upon the traditional schools of music to teach us, or even upon the soulful violins and the massive drums to make our music. Welcome to music downloads and low cost home studios – music recording studios in which you may be pardoned for not being able to identify a single piece of regular or even a musical instrument, for that matter.



In recent times, MP3 music players and music downloads have taken the world by storm. Napster created lot of hustle and bustle a few years ago by digitizing all kinds of world famous music and allowing free peer to peer transfer on the internet. It’s a different matter that the issue raked up so much dust regarding propriety and copyright rights that Napster had to give in at the end in the face of an adverse court ruling. But the damage had been done, and the world of music downloads altered forever.

While music creation software has been around for a while now, it is the advent of MP3 that really set the wheels of revolution rolling. MP3 started off as a matter of convenience in reducing file size by cutting out fringe frequencies from the music, thereby cutting down drastically on file size while resulting in a hardly discernable reduction in quality for the ordinary listener. The resultant reduction in storage requirements meant the new technology was lapped up by humankind in general and technocrats in particular. What it managed to do was to fire up the imagination of millions across the globe to make software to convert audio music to MP3 format. Today audio rippers and ‘audio-to-mp3’ converters abound on the internet. Not interested in spending money – so who asked you for it? Players like Jet audio, Music Match etc offer free trial versions that last forever. A little ad here and a banner there never hurt much as long as you have unlimited free usage rights.

The past few years have found home music mushrooming by the dozens. Pirated music became easy to create- all that was needed was a computer, the latest CDs, and a CD writer, and lo behold- you had a rip-roaring music recording business on your hands. While the problem has died down to an extent due to strict anti-piracy actions, it is a fact that pirated MP3 music still rules the roost in most developing countries where the laws are not so strict.

So where do we go from here? It is essential for us to respect the propriety and intellectual rights of music creators, composers et all. Any infringement of copyrights should be dealt strictly and offenders punished to avoid repeat offences. Take some time out while downloading that piece to see if you are downloading a legal copy. Meanwhile, put on your headphones and use that enthralling software you downloaded to enhance your musical experience to a level you never thought possible.