MP3 as an example: no one can resist the free dissemination of information

Taking MP3 as an example, this paper discusses the conflict between the present copyright system and the new technology.

1.1987 years, the German Research institute "the Fraunhofer Association" (Fraunhofer Institut) formed a research group specializing in audio coding.

2.Karlheinz Dr. Brandenburg is the core of the group, and he was later called the father of MP3.

In January of 3.1988, ISO decided to set up the "Motion image Expert Group" (moving, MPEG) to solve the standard problem of compression coding for audio and video programs. Audio coding is a subproject of this expert group, led by the Fraunhofer Institute's researchers.

4.1992 years, the MP3 format has been successfully developed and ISO has earned its international standards. July 14, 1994, the official encoder L3enc released, the file suffix name officially designated as ". mp3", this day is considered the MP3 format of the birthday.

5. Although MP3 is an international standard, patents are owned by the Fraunhofer Association. The association decided to commercialize the MP3, and the decoder (decoder) could be used for free or at low cost, but the encoder (encoders) would charge a high authorization fee.

6.1997 years, two students at the University of Utah launched a popular music playback software Winamp. This is the first widely used MP3 decoder in history, and the outside world is beginning to notice the MP3 format.

The biggest advantage of 7.mp3 format is high compression rate, 128Kbps sampling, the file volume is only 11 of the original WAV file, and the sound quality is almost no drop. A CD is turned into a mp3 file, about 60MB in volume. At that time, most people's hard disk was only 512MB, so the MP3 format became popular.

8. An increasing number of people want to use MP3 to store their favorite music, but high encoder licensing fees become an obstacle.

At the end of 9.1997, an Australian student bought a professional-grade MP3 encoder from a German company with a stolen Taiwanese credit card. He found that the encoder used Microsoft's general programming interface, easy to crack, and put the cracked software on the United States a University of FTP. He wrote in the Readme file: "This is freeware, please feel free to use." "

10. The Fraunhofer association was appalled by attempts to seize the perpetrators and to warn all users not to illegally use stolen encoders. But it doesn't help that the free encoder is popular all over the world, everyone is using it, and MP3 becomes the de facto audio coding standard. In a few years, the Fraunhofer society understood that it was simply unable to stop the global trend, and acquiesced in the MP3 encoder being free to use.

11.1999 years, 19-year-old American student Shawn Fanning developed Napster software that allows users to "Peer-to-peer" MP3 file transfers. This actually allows anyone to get a variety of music from the Internet for free.

12. When the MP3 format is combined with the Internet, it becomes obvious that the main channel for future music will be the Internet, because it is too easy to use and too low-cost. It's like an avalanche is going to start, and you can't stop it, so just accept it and get ready in advance.

13. The Fraunhofer society realizes that the era of free music is coming, and that the Internet will be full of free downloadable music. It hurriedly informs the record company and asks them to be prepared. But record companies are simply unwilling to face up to the "nightmare" that CDs are their main source of profit, and they do everything they can to keep CDs.

14. The record company first sued and closed Napster, then threatened to sue all users of Peer-to-peer downloads. In response, encrypted Peer-to-peer downloads were quickly developed, making tracking users almost an "impossible mission."

15. The record company wants to develop an encryption format that allows the downloaded music to be played only after payment is made. Later, the idea gradually evolved into a variety of "digital Rights Management" technologies (Digital Rights Management, or DRM).

In 16.2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an article calling on the record company to "completely discard DRM" because "it is no longer working" and simply cannot prevent piracy, just adding to the trouble of users. Two years later, Apple announced that all the music sold by itunes, its music store, had no DRM. At this point, DRM in the music industry declared a complete failure.

17. Many new music formats have emerged in the internet age, but users want music files to play at any time, any device, which makes the MP3 format always win the competition because it meets the needs of the users. A time of free music has actually come.

18.mp3 's history illustrates that the free flow of information is an irresistible trend, and technological advances are not shifted by human will. In this internet age, attempts to limit the spread of information in the old business model are doomed to failure.

[References]

* The mp3:a History of innovation and betrayal

* The History of MP3

* Wikipedia:mp3