It began with the VCR, then came the CD and Napster, then Ipod’s and Tivo. All of these devices started out from another digital idea and have now evolved into our new era of digital design. Now, we dont have to have tapes of our favorite shows lying around, or a six inch wide Cd player laying on our desk, because those things would just take up too much space. Now we have our Tivo box that captures anything on TV we may miss and now that annoying six inch Cd player has been replaced by the one inch by three inch Ipod that can hold an ungodly amount of songs, movies and pictures.
It all started with the VCR, that caused a lot of controversy and rif-raft with the Movie Industry. Both the movie and television industry felt that the VCR was a terrible piece of technology because now, families can recored their favorite show that they missed and fast forward through the commercials. They felt that this was going to kill their business since revenue is generated from commercials, but they had a bigger problem with the fact that they thought it was illegal by the companies selling them. “…recording of television shows is copying. When you record a television show of the air your making a copy of that show. And copying without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal (Felten).” The Supreme Court felt that the companies distributing the VCR’s were not responsible for how their customers used their product, so they could not outlaw VCR’s.
From the VCR came DVD’s. DVD’s are a little more expensive, but they offer higher quality and will last much longer. They can be fast forwarded or rewound quicker, and they take up much less room. DVD’s were the continuing uprise in the new digital era. CD’s and VCR’s were great technological advances, but once the DVD came out, a whole new array of digital advances came.
Napster was the new way of downloading any kind of music, any time any place from the internet. It was a free way of getting a ton of music you loved for no cost. But the music industry didnt like that very much and thought that it was killing their business. So they sued Napster and won, eventually causing Napster to shut down its website. But now rather than download your music to the computer, you can download it to your Ipod.
The Ipod is the new and easy way of carrying around thousands of songs and music to have at your fingertips and thats without having to carry around hundreds of Cd’s. Cd players quickly came and quickly went thanks to the Ipod. Now, the Ipod comes in different shapes, sizes, colors, features, space for music, space for pictures, space for movies and internet. I also just had a phone that allows you to take your Ipod songs and put them on your phone. It is amazing how much a piece of technology can do, all at the size of two or three fingers.
In his lecture, Professor Edward Felten touched on all these ideas, and explained how the digital age is evolving. Whether a few technological advances had to get through the Supreme Court, they did and flourished. From, VCR’s and Cd’s to Tivo, the Ipod and DVD’s the new digital era is upon us, and a few years from now we will be talking about the new new digital era.
Works Cited
Felton, E. (2004). Rip,mix, burn, sue: Technology, politics, and the fight to control digital media. Princeton University President’s Lecture Series, no 1.
