Shephard Blog #5 COPYRIGHT

Anyone who uses the internet knows about the common state "I have read and agreed to the terms of service" but do they really KNOW what it means? I for one, never really put that much thought into what I was "agreeing" to, but nonetheless, again and again people just click the button and move on. I would say this would be the way copyrights on the internet effect me the most, but when I actually sat down and thought about it, I realize that copyrighting actually does effect my choices on the internet more than I thought. Music for example, is one of the main items on the internet discussed when talking about copyright on the internet. I have in the past downloaded songs from the internet that I am pretty sure did not come from the record company, but when one does download music like that, I notice that it can be scratchy and not sound as good as it could. Thats why, in terms of music, I prefer to use legitimate ways of getting songs like iTunes or buying songs off Amazon. With sites like mediafire and other free music downloading sites, illegal downloads can happen all the time because people do not quite understand the rules and regulations. I also try to avoid downloading movies off of the internet because like with music the QUALITY is what suffers. Many times a film downloaded off an illegal site will either have odd captions, or another language subtitles, or even the images themselves could be grainy. In my opinion, it is better to download songs and music legally so that everyone involved gets their fair share of rights, AND so that the downloader themselves get the best possible quality of media.