DOES THE EMERGANCE OF DIGITAL DOWNLOAD SIGNAL THE END FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

    Digital download will force the music industry to adapt. Although downloading affects the sales of CDs, there are people who will download songs from an album and then buy the CD if they decide they enjoy the songs they’ve downloaded. Those in the music industry claim sharing music online is like stealing a CD out of a store, but with downloading every file is a copy of the original, so the number of originals is never depleted. A good point from Condry is “a lot of music is is already available for free and people pay for it anyway”. Bottled water is a good example of a product which shows ‘free’ doesn’t eliminate the market. Like Bottled water buyers, those concerned about quality will buy the CD since the sound quality is higher than downloaded mp3s. People concerned with supporting their favorite artists and quality will continue to legally buy.