Hung Like A Donkey

Juicelog Wed 130906: Today has been a sad day for me. Animals have never really been my thing but it was awfully distressing for me to find out that one of the planet’s favourite donkeys was hung last night. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) killed off eDonkey (one of the popular peer-to-peer file sharing networks).

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of iffy and legal file sharing services out there which have provoked numerous discussions focusing on copyright infringement. Not that I’m questioning the legal aspects of the eDonkey case but it seems quite apparent that some of the social implications have not been given full consideration.

Given the way that musical formats have evolved and developed over the last eight years eDonkey’s decision to give up on their court case marks a slightly gloomy day for today’s generation of file sharers. Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have offered people the ability to listen to a wide range and styles of music - which would not have been an easy thing to do going back a decade ago. Some P2P file sharing services allow you to browse other people’s collection of mp3’s (which is the electronic equivalent of looking through someone’s record collection). Finding someone who has similar musical tastes to yourself and being able to see what they listen to is how the cyber music community get to discover new acts (as well as the rarer classics). The option of communicating with other like-minded listeners allows for melodic bonding and formation of new friendships/relationships.

The advent of P2P’s has increased accessibility to songs which has allowed for the regular home listener to sieve out a lot of the crap stuff (Will Young would fall into this category), thus jolting music companies and songwriters to bump up their standards. Toilet music is by no means a justification for P2P’s because we all know that sharing Will Young is not the kind of thing that friends do to each other. Trust me, it will just end in tears.