Yet recorded music is considerably more than a corporate revenue source, and the implications of digital distribution go far beyond the particulars of software and gadgets and royalty collection. Digital distribution can turn that sentiment into a reality. First conceived of as a means of allowing independent bands and musicians to post their music online where it might attract a following, MP3 became a headache for the recording industry when music from the name artists they controlled began appearing on MP3 sites. Not only could users listen to their downloaded music from their hard drives, but they could make their own CDs from MP3 files and play those discs where ever and when ever they wished. Matters were made even worse for the recording companies when manufacturers such as Diamond Multimedia introduced portable MP3 players, further freeing the music from users' computers.
Users can then transfer the audio to CDs or listen on their computers.
Many observers, however, feel that not only is the recording industry too late in entering the online music field, but that the growing number of competing, incompatible compression technologies will only serve to further cement MP3's position as the standard of choice for audio-seeking Internet users. But there are numerous companies vying to enter the online video trade. Their efforts fall into three non-distinct categories, delivering the Internet via home television sets, delivering television channels to homes via the Internet, and delivering video to homes via the Internet. WebTV turns a television set into a computer screen, permitting access to the Internet as is done on users' computers. As such, it provides not only access to the Web, but several sites of its own, including one for children and another serving up local weather, news, and event information.