A The issue of downloading, copying, burning and distributing mp3s still remains unresolved. What is more, mp3s are still rising in popularity and are known as the superior audio format on the net. The issue affects many people, including producers, sound engineers, graphic artists and song writers as well as musicians. However, it is the record companies which are feeling most threatened. B Mp3s boast the highest compression rates, at 12 to 1, and they maintain sound quality that is nearly as good as a CD as they have drawn on over 15 years of psycho-acoustic research. Their small size makes them quick, easy and reliable to download and they even have the power to increase the number of hits to websites which house them. C It is easy to see why mp3s have become so widely popular these days but there are a number of legal, practical, and ethical issues surrounding this robust new format. All of this activity is by and large illegal as it breaks copyright laws. If you copy music and distribute it free of charge, it is a civil offence punishable by fine. If you copy music and distribute it for financial gain, it is a criminal offence punishable by jail. Even if you are copying it for personal use at home, it is still illegal as none of those involved in any stage of the production process get paid at all. Even though many people have been copying tapes for quite some time now, with mp3s the loss of revenue for record companies has been magnified 100,000 times. Record companies have therefore declared war on college students, web hosts and mp3 sites, using battalions of lawyers and the legal system to shut them down. D Apart from taking legal action, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and 'the Big Five' (Sony, BMG, EMI, Universal/PolyGram and Warner-Electra-Atlantic) are also exploring technical avenues to end their misery. One method is Liquid Audio which is an alternative format that does not play illegal files. It is the first digital music commerce system featuring copy protection and copyright management, as well as the largest digital music distribution network. E On top of that, the RIAA has introduced the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) which is a coalition of about 15 companies in the technology and music industries who are working to develop an end-to-end Serial Copy Management Standards (SCMS) system that will prevent illegal distribution of copyrighted music over the Internet. It is hoped that future downloads of mp3s can be encoded with a digital watermark and ultimately prevent people from playing illegal ones. F To the big recording companies' dismay, it may be time to face the music and come up with a way to redefine the industry. The disheartening fact is that digital information will keep developing and it is here to stay. The industry will have to cease spending millions on signing up big names and producing, distributing and marketing CDs. Revenue will have to be generated in different ways. Alternative means may include more live performances and appearances or redesigning recording artists' websites to generate a higher income. G Mp3s have also had varying effects on the artists who write and perform the music. One hit wonders fair worst in this situation as no one is going to go to the record shop to buy a CD for just one song. Other artists who have proven themselves to be successful obviously do not depend on just one song for their income and therefore are not hit so hard. Some have even supported the mp3 industry by producing rap3 format only songs. Unsigned, up and coming acts also benefit as they are able to have a far greater reach by using the Internet as a means of boosting online sales, finding distributors and giving themselves greater exposure. Essentially, mp3s can bring the artists closer to the listeners as they are cutting out all the middlemen who assist in producing CDs, which also makes them very cost effective as there is no packaging and hardly any production costs involved. H The fact is that through the Internet a single file can be distributed to thousands of people in an instant at a cost that lets all parties save. Those few dollars are going to add up and augment rather than hurt the market. Once a workable revenue model can be formulated, mp3s will be seen to benefit and check the industry as opposed to threaten it.
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Reading passage has eight paragraphs A-H. Which paragraphs concentrate on the following information? NB You need only write ONE letter for each answer. Recording companies must confront the truth.
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Copying music is not new.
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A type of software that cannot play bootlegged files.
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Mp3s draw visits to websites.
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Many people can access mp3 files quickly and economically.
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Relatively unknown bands will have bigger audiences.
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A consortium developing a copy protection system.
填空题Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage, answer the following questions. What is the penalty for selling music you copied?
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Which audio format caused a significantly smaller downturn in sales?
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Which people are the record companies fighting against?
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What is Warner-Electra-Atlantic a part of?.
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What was Liquid Audio the first example of in digital music?