While Paul Levinson focuses mostly on the news aspect of Youtube, he does explore the musical side of YouTube. He points out that it is likely that iTunes will not do so well in the future due to cost issues. Why would you download music for money, when you could listen to it for free. I have found Youtube to be one of my favorite outlets for listening to music. It is great because with an account, you can set up a playlist, so you do not have to look up a new song every time one ends. While there are other free sites that allow you to listen to streaming music, like Grooveshark and Pandora, YouTube is unique because of the extreme amounts of versions available for every song .
I don't know how many people in our class like electro/ house music/ french touch/ new disco/ synth pop type music, but if you do, you are familiar with the way these types of artist are constantly remixing each other's songs. Chromeo's new song 'Don't Turn the Lights on' was immediately matched with an Aeroplane remix of the song and then Chromeo turned around and remixed the song that Aeroplane had already remixed of them. It goes on and on. Try finding half of these mixes on Grooveshark or iTunes. It is close to impossible. That's why I really love YouTube. You can find very discrete mixes.
Those of you who do not appreciate house and electronic music may be able to relate to this. When it comes to blues/acid rock/ jam bands, YouTube is a great place to go because not only can you find studio versions of songs, you can find live versions also. So after seeing the epic Phish show in Camden, NJ for my birthday last year, I was able to look up that exact show on YouTube and watch the live songs from the show I was at. I even found my self hula hooping in a video someone took from the show that I didn't even know I was in.
Anyone that is a Grateful Dead fan knows that toward the end years, Jerry started to sound a little shabby and often forgot lyrics. YouTube allows me to find the best versions of my favorite Dead tunes from different years.
Also, while I'm sure it is ethically frowned upon, there are many sites where you can convert YouTube videos to computer downloads. All you do is enter the URL into the website and it converts the video into a downloadable audio file. The need for iTunes is slowly dissipating as more free music becomes available for people to listen to, download and manipulate. Sites like Pandora, Grooveshark and YouTube are the new go-to places for new and old music.
There is some tension over the availability of music on YouTube, and it seems like it's been a little more limited lately. But I have long found it odd that you can't find a place to listen to a given song as an audio file online, but you can find it on YouTube as a video, often with the most minimal of visuals.
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