Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Information Society Term - MP3 Player

Looking up MP3 Player in the New York Times, the first article involving my term was from 1998.  The article was mainly about when MP3 files were first introduced.  The main topic was how MP3 (the music file) can transfer music across the internet, but many music producers were afraid of this being legal because it opened doors to illegally download music.  Instead of buying a CD or record, a person could click a button and listen to their favorite song on the internet.  Playing the music through your computer would use the MP3 file reader to play the audio of the song.  Manufacturers were then able to make a music playing device that plays MP3 files through the device.  The recording-industry tried obtaining a restraining order on these devices, but failed because the devices did not record the music as MP3 files, only played MP3 files on them.

After searching articles containing MP3 in ProQuest, many of the articles refer to MP3 player as a portable music player.  You can find them in phones, laptops, portable satellite radios, personal digital assistants, and other forms of technology.  The current articles focused on the term being an actual device, where as the first articles containing this term focused on the actual MP3 file reader that could allow music files to be transferred over the internet.  Although manufacturers made MP3 playing devices when MP3 first became legal, the main topic discussed in early articles was mainly about the actual MP3 file, not player.

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