Topic 1.1 – Music: I Want My MP3

Introduction

I remember when I was a teenager where the Internet bandwidth is still limited, the only way of getting updated on what is new in the music world is either waiting for that specific time of the day on TV or go to the music store and check what’s new, and of course you can always check on the Internet but back then listing to music on internet is impossible due to the limitation of bandwidth and computer, the only way was to get the information from the internet and go to the store or TV to listen to it.

MP3 revolutionized the industry by bring music to the internet, now you can listen to a preview of the music and purchase it right after, you can organize your music easily.

Music plays a big role in my life, I listen to it when I am going to work, after work, exercise etc, because of internet I can purchase my favourite music from my mobile phone, getting updated on the latest track from RSS.

Readings

Laughey, D. (2007). Music Media in Young People’s Everyday Lives. In Music, Sound and Multimedia: From the Live to the Virtual (pp. 172-187).

“How is music interlaced with our everyday lives in general? What has been the impact of the Internet in the way music is used by young people privately and publicly (and the way this intermingles)?”

In this reading Dan Laughey writes how music is being used in both the public and private of young peoples, and how both public and private are combining.  Today portable multimedia devices such as MP3 Players and MP4 Players can be used privately within public, this also applies to private use, such as Radio, TV which bring the public within private.

The music industry went from record players, radio, cassette players, mini disc players, CD players, MP3, MP4 and finally multimedia players as used today. because of the evolution of how we carry our music, it has become so portable, that everyone carries their music with them, either on iPod or even in their mobile phones. with music we can change how our mood in our everyday life, either on the train going to work, doing home work at home, in the shower, at the gym, etc.  Music helps us relax and enjoy our repeating routine in our daily lives.

Music is part of my life, I listen to it every day, when I’m going to work, after work on the train, or even in the bathroom, depending on my mood on that day, I would pick the correct genre for me to enjoy.

Internet accelerate the evolution of music, now more waiting for the music video program on the TV once a week, to find out who’s the No.1 of the week, no more going to the music store and get a preview of the new release of the music. With internet we can find all these in a click of a button, we can purchase our favourite tracks on the go, with Mobile internet, with Internet we can discover unknown or rare music, we can find out if our friends also likes then with  comment, we can share music to our friends without going to their house and find out that they don’t like it. Internet is the ultimate place where both private and public user comes together.

Task 1.1 (Assignment 1):

This Task requires us to open up an account with a music discovery and streaming service like Pandora, Last.fm, orGrooveshark. Use their tools for discovering new music and other listeners with similar tastes and build upon your profile there. If you have an mp3 player, try to download playlists and music from the service.

In this case I created an profile with last.fm, this is a very interesting online music streaming service first thing it tells right after I login in is recommending the user to download a program called scrobbler, and what this program does is to automatically fills the users music library and updates it with what the user have been listening to on their computer or ipod, however ipod service is not available in Australia yet.

What else is in interesting with this type of online service is not only it provides more convient ways for people to listening to their music it such as users now can pick which song they wants to listening to with a tap of a button unlike those old fm radios,  the only way to change the music is by changing the station, but with online streaming service such as last.fm, it gives the user the freedom to browse and chose the right music for themselves.

My last.fm profile link –  http://www.last.fm/user/schweded

Introduction – Studying the Internet

How did you first encounter, hear or read about it?

well, my first encounter is when my dad put internet on his computer, it was in the 90s I had no idea what it was, I was only 5, however at that time my understanding was its only for reading the news, I really didn’t care much at the time because my focus was on 24/7 Starcraft, and yes! I was 5

When and how did you first ‘go online’ and what did you think of it?

It was awesome i forgot exactly when i first go online, i my experience with the internet until now is very positive,I could never get enough of it, i remmeber the first internet service i had was dial-up from telstra, running at 5kb per sec, i still view images on the web, its that addictive

How do you use it nowadays?

Watching videos, Facebook, online gaming, email, music, online banking, online shopping..etc well to me a computer without internet or life with out internet is limited internet provide so much information and activities which in my opinion makes life easier

Do you think of it as different or part of your everyday life?

Internet is part of my life, it is my communication ‘device’ i use it to talk to my friends more than using my mobile, it also provides so much information for me to study