Not Music to My Students' Ears...

This fall, some of my students mentioned the name 'LimeWire' when discussing copyrights and music downloads. I had certainly heard of BitTorrent, but not LimeWire....

Today, the WSJ, in an article titled "Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits," reports that "after years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.
Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet-service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an email to the provider when it finds a provider's customers making music available online for others to take. Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether."
Wow! Losing Internet access as the punishment for illegal downloads! With only a handful of ISPs in a metro area (AT&T, Comcast, WideOpenWest, and perhaps Verizon in my area) one can be blacklisted across service providers. I personally respect and obey copyright laws, but the music industry has to realize that it has to look at a different business model. People are willing pay, as iTunes proves.

While talking about music, I wanted to take a trip back in time and look at the "English Rock/Pop" music of my youth...

Pre-1978 (the year when I entered the Indian Instittute of Technology, Madras)
Catch me if you can (on Mohammed Ali)
Osibisa
Jim Reeves
Billy Vaughn- Come September and Berlin Melody

1978-1983 (the year I graduated from IIT and joined Northwestern)
Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
Simon and Garfunkel- Greatest Hits
Best of Bread
Lobo
AC/DC - Back in Black
Deep Purple/Machine Head- Smoke on the Water
La Bionda
Saturday Night Fever
Bee Gees
Moody Blues

1983-1990 (year I lost my father)
10,000 Maniacs -In my Tribe (one of the greatest albums ever)
Cat Stevens
Jackson Browne - Lives in the Balance (one of the most powerful albums ever)
Los Lobos - By the Light of the Moon (a fabulous album)
Bruce - Born to Run, Born in the USA
U2 - The Joshua Tree - one of the best
Moody Blues - In your wildest dreams
Tom Petty - Free Falling and I won't back down
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
George Harrison - Got my mind set on you
Madonna - Like a Virgin
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart, Betty Davis' Eyes
Cindy Lauper - Girls Just Want to have Fun
Men At Work
Simply Red
Eurythmics
Traveling Wilburys I - a fabulous album

1990-2000 (the last decade of the previous century)

Cranberries - No Need to Argue - a wonderful album
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
U2
10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden, with the song - These are days
Natalie Merchant - Tigerlilly