Archer, Micheal

There are a few online copyright concerns that have caused irritation over the past 5 years. I agree that there needs to be enforcement of policy related to pirating of music/videos/software. However, not all media needs to be on a subscription basis online.

There is one online application that I used to enjoy using – Pandora – for it's free, online streaming music that allows you to direct the songs towards music that you like without it allowing you to constantly hear one song or even select the next song to play. This application is quite innovative and gives air time to junior artists as well as those already established. It used to be free and advertisement-free, now the free version has ads and the pay version does not. The application could be found here:  http://www.pandora.com/  except that, in Canada, it is no longer offered because of concerns with copyright law and potential lawsuits from record labels, even though the artists are being paid royalties each time a song is played. Speak with the founder and find out what the US copyright laws look like, as they are allowed to broadcast there.

A similar online application can be found at http://www.hulu.com/ and also does not allow Canadian users to access it.

Micheal Archer