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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 2000 It is important we take the simple route IT is hard not to have seen or heard of the legal battle currently raging between the American music industry and Napster, the online song swap business. Here is a brief outline for people who are not in the know, or have not actually tried this ingenious service and software. If you have music files on your PC, and you log on to the Napster site then, through a software download, all your music files are made available to the rest of the planet and vice-versa. Every PC that is logged on is available to you in that all the MP3 music files held can be downloaded. You can search by song, artist or composer, and the listing shown will indicate the size of file and the speed of modem connection. You can choose the best sites and, at a click, download all the MP3 music files which you choose - for free. The established music industry and artists see this as a great threat. How will they get paid? How will they avoid being defrauded? The answer is that a new business model is required as the old one is tired, out of date and out of step with technology. When Sony introduced the VHS machine more than 20 years ago, the film industry did all it could to prevent this new threat to their established business model and prosperity. Fortunately for them (and us) they failed, and today film makers enjoy more income from VHS sales and rentals than they ever did from the box office. Will the music industry win the battle and turn off Napster? I doubt it, but we won't know for at least another 12 months. Even if they do, however, we can rely on a succession of new service providers to keep this radical paradigm alive. For example, check out some other sites such as www.audiogalaxy.com, www.spinfrenzy.com, www.junglemonkey.net and www.napigator.com. If Napster is killed, then it will quickly be replaced by lots more similar sites. . If Napster is killed, then it will quickly be replaced by lots more similar sites. It will not stop at music. We already see sites such as www.gnutella.wego.com, www.scour.com and www.cutemx.com providing for music, photos, videos, spreadsheets and other file types. providing for music, photos, videos, spreadsheets and other file types. This new paradigm really is about a world where more bits are free than constrained, where we can choose to make what we own, produce, like or know available to everyone. To me, it is the epitome of what the web is about - freedom. So does this basic technology and new freedom pose a significant threat to anyone? I think not. It is likely to be about as damaging as the camera has been to artists painting in oils, or the printing press to the writer, or indeed the PC to the magazine market. We have to imagine a world where we, as individuals, choose to make a given selection of all our material publicly accessible to the planet. Inside companies and their intranets, it is even more important that we take this very simple route to communication. This really is about moving away from a past of controlism and power to a future of sharing and being influential. I suspect that we are about to see a bloody battle to try to stop this imminent change, but the forces of control will ultimately fail as they are outnumbered by those seeking freedom. Those embracing this technology will become very influential, and collectively more powerful than most people can imagine. Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is: |
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