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| Allyn West is a junior journalism major and writes 'Charmingly Dishevelled' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. |
Lately, University Computing Services offices have been flooded with complaints because you (students) have had trouble connecting to or even navigating your favorite Web sites.
Because of "Web congestion," or some other nonsense, in the past few weeks, Ball State has added more "bandwidth" to accommodate us (trespassers) as we browse the Internet.
For the lay person, according to Charlyn Keating Chisholm at About.com, "Bandwidth describes how much information can be sent over a connection at one time."
She adds, "In the past, the Internet had more than enough bandwidth to handle all the traffic. (But) more people accessing more complex information means more traffic jams on the Internet."
One of the culprits of Ball State's recent Web clog is "file sharing." Maybe it's evil; maybe it's not, but our university has done an excellent job curtailing it and has implemented new policies to "monitor" it. Before we (the oppressed) file a lawsuit, though, we have to realize the reasoning.
If Ball State allowed us to access services like Kazaa Lite or Audiogalaxy (before it collapsed), especially with the on-campus high-speed connection, the Web available to us for research and information gathering would be utterly stagnant; even our e-mail sites would take hours to display.
(As a side note, I imagine class attendance would drop significantly, because there are a lot of mp3s, movies and software to be downloaded. I don't think I'd ever leave my room.)
Still, those media are boundlessly available on the Internet for free. Close to my heart is the absolute abyss of mp3s hiding in our hard drives, waiting to be shared and experienced. I know they are out there, and I want them.
I realize mp3 swapping is illegal and violates every copyright law ever disseminated. But, there are benefits to the practice and it's foolish to think we (music appreciators/stealers) are going to stop.
Case in point: Underage drinking is also illegal, and you know how that is working out.
Record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America find it hard to justify file sharing, and it's understandable. But, if file sharing can be practiced responsibly (legally?), each would be wise to regulate and embrace it.
For example, Dwight Silverman in the Houston Chronicle said, "Almost a third of consumers -- 31 percent -- download music from the Internet, and these same folks account for 36 percent of all CD sales." So, file sharers do buy the music they download -- at a 116 percent increase. That is at least significant.
Personally, and I think correctly, I use devices like Kazaa Lite to sample and explore new music. If it's bad, I delete it. When I find something good, I buy it.
Silverman said, "Radio play lists are shrinking, making it harder for new music to get heard." Basically, he means, radio sucks. And living in Indiana, without the Internet, I'd have to listen to Nickelback and Chevelle. I'd be unhappy, I am guessing.
Some record labels have wised up and are offering pay-for-play sites. This is a good start. But, in a recent issue of Esquire, Chris Kaye still rated the free, unregulated Kazaa Lite service the highest against four other subscription-based sites.
So, my advice: Take your computer home (free Ball State) and download all you can while you can.
But, download responsibly.
Write to Allyn at aswest@bsu.edu
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