what are the advantages and disadvantes to digital music?
Widespread adoption of the technique of distributing digital music via the internet either in MP3 format or in some other form would give rise to some important social and economic advantages and disadvantages. Currently, most of the retail price paid by a consumer for compact disks goes to the manufacturer of the disc itself, the distributor of the disc, the retail store where she purchased it, or the record company that produced the recording. If the music were distributed over the Internet by the artist himself, almost all of costs associated with making and distributing discs could be eliminated. Then musicians could earn more or consumers could pay less or both. It would also get rid of the overproduction or underproduction of albums. Under the current system, the record companies must guess how many copies of each CD consumers will demand. Distribution of container less digital files over the Internet would eliminate this problem. More and new musicians would come forth, the set of musicians who would like to make their music available to the public and the set that significant numbers of consumers would like to hear are both much larger than the set hired by the recording companies. The opportunities available to new artists and to bands that appeal to certain markets would increase rapidly through widespread adoption of the new technology.
Regrettably, distribution of digital music via the Internet also has one, very substantial drawback: It undermines the ability of music creators to earn money. Two circumstances, in combination, give rise to this problem. First, MP3 files are unsecured. In other words, nothing prevents a person who has acquired with or without permission an MP3 file to make an unlimited number of copies of it. Second, unlike the copies of musical works made using analog technology the copies made using digital technology are perfect. In other words, each copy is identical to the original. In that case unauthorized, perfect MP3 copies of copyrighted recordings are widely available on the Internet for free. I hope this answers the question!