I'm downloading WHAT?!

Copyright. The big word we see, hear, and breathe everyday. It's all around us and yet I learned alot from Jason Hardin today. I seriously did not think that copyright goes way back to 1790, before the Bill of Rights! That simply blew my mind away. And who would think that a term for a U.S. copyright product is the author's lifespan plus an additional 70 years?! I've always assumed that once something was copyrighted it would always be. Little did I know...

Another interesting reason for the presence of copyright policies, which I never thought about, was that it encourages creators to create because they will be able to hold credibility for their works. Thus, the domino effect ensues: creators want to invent and new sciences, arts, and technologies are created. How cool is that?

There is some copyright issue concerning downloadable music. Musicians (artists) compose and sing (or play) their creations. They sell CD's or downloads through mediums such as iTunes. However, there are places(BitTorrent, Limewire, etc.) on the internet where music is downloadable for free. Sure, it's great for us, the consumers, because we don't have to spend money purchasing something that's readily available. However, I really do think that as fans (consumers) of a certain artist, it would only do a great disloyalty to the artist to upload or download their music for free! How else are these people going to make money and continue their venture without our support? Besides, I'm pretty sure that whoever uploads the music, didn't ask the musicians for permission. Therefore, uploading and downloading free music off the internet could put one at risk of violating copyright policies. And, we really don't want to put our musicians out of business. The sound of monotony gets old pretty fast.