As bandwidth increases and the expectations of the user get
more demanding, many are less satisfied to use only text and
other basic data types on the internet. It didn’t take
long before we all wanted to see pictures, sound, and even
video as well. Now many of us, especially those of us who
have a high speed connection, enjoy downloading or streaming
our favorite songs, movie trailers, or even playing our favorite
nemesis in an online connected video game. Web-cams are also
more and more popular and are a great way for grandma, who
lives across the country, to see her grandchildren more often.
Many software companies are even selling their products online,
which keeps the prices down for them and their customers since
they don’t have to pay for as much fancy packaging or
give retail stores a cut of their profits. The famous Napster
is one of the best known media exchange sites, but many others
have followed. Napster simply created a site where music lovers
could meet and exchange music for free. Yes, the ethics of
this website has been brought under question and they are
no longer what they once were, but forget about that for one
moment and just think about how creative this idea really
was. Note: This site didn’t even offer any of its own
content at all. Very clever indeed! It simply made it possible
for its patrons to trade with each other. They more than likely
made the majority of their money by selling advertising space
on their site.
Video is becoming more and more popular everyday. You can
check out your favorite band’s new video, watch the
trailer for an upcoming movie that you are excited about,
or even check out the news … all on your computer with
access to the internet. I have even purchased a couple of
audio books to listen to in my car. All I had to do was pay
for the book (which cost half as much as the print version.
Are you beginning to see a pattern here?), download the audio
file from the website, then burn it to my own CD – R
to play in the CD player in my car. FANTASTIC!
Can you think of other examples that you have seen? Can you
come up with any great ideas that you haven’t seen?
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