Within less than five years CDs have taken over cassette tapes as the mix
medium of preference. The development of CD burners fueled the skyrocketing
popularity of CDs. With just the clicking of a mouse people are
able to make their own CD with any type of music on it that they want.
Due to the increasing number of file-sharing programs, like Napster, people are
able to download any type of music that they want and do so without paying a
dime out of their pocket. Being able to get music for free was a big plus
for the people, but for the music industry the file-sharing programs were
putting holes in their pockets. They were not getting the money that they
deserved for making their music. Then came the “Napster revolution,” the
discovery that money could be made form the buying of CD burners and also
CD-Recordable disc (blank CDs). The production of CD burners and
CD-Recordable disc increase, and at the same time the sales went through the
roof. Today, technology is making writable CD drives (CD burners) available
to be standard equipment for PCs.
With the increasing and constant development of technology people are able
to get and produce their own CDs very easily. Now audio enthusiasts are
putting separate CD burners onto their stereo systems. With the development
of CD-Re-writable discs (commonly called CD-RWs) people are able to erase
previous data that was burned onto the CD. Then you can burn new data onto
the CD. The thing is though; the CD-RWs do not function properly on CD
players so CD-RWs are mainly used for back-up storage devices for computer
files. There are now dual-tray stereo-component burners. With this burner
people are able to burn a CD taken data directly off from another CD. This
burner is quicker and more accurately than other CD burners, too. The catch
is it is usually only used for the creations of CDs. In addition to burning
music you can burn computer files onto CD-ROMS. On CD-ROMS you can burn
such things like photos, Web pages, or even movies.
As technology increases so will the controversy about what is legal and
what is illegal. In 2000, the story about Napster was the headlines of
every paper. Musicians and the record companies were outraged with what
Napster was doing. Napster was giving out free music for everyone to
download. The record companies and musicians argued that this was illegal.
The big controversy is still going on today. There will be no end to
file-sharing programs. It is said that is legal for someone to burn songs
as long as it is for their own personal use. Once when the person does not
use the burnt CD for personal use then it is illegal. The question is when
is the CD for just personal use and when is it not? They have been debating
this now for a while and still will be for years to come.
The capabilities of lasers are just beginning to be discovered.
Technology has made huge strides, but will make even larger strides in
years to come. We already can burn music onto CDs, and also CD-ROMS that
include Web pages, photos and movies. Just think about what we are able to
do with this equipment that is no bigger than a car stereo. Also the
equipment is no more expensive than a cheap bike. We have only touch the
surface of what we can do with CD burners. I wonder what the future holds. For more information check the links page.