Thursday, January 29, 2009
P2P sharing
As I look back on every new technology or idea that I have experienced in my generation thus far, I think, by far, one of the most creative ideas is peer-to-peer sharing. First there was Napster, I had to be about 7 or 8 years old. The basic principle is simple: everyone owns a little bit of music or video or program and uploads it to a main database. Once the files are in the database, anyone can access them and download them to their computer. This eliminates a lot of trouble for music fanatics and also television fanatics. If you like any form of media, peer-to-peer sharing makes getting access to the media extremely easy. You can find almost anything in these databases, from the most indie unheard-of music to computer games and home-made videos. When I first heard of the program, I thought it was too good to be true. Some methods of peer-to-peer sharing are obviously illegal, but I still think the idea is ingenious. The person who came up with it didn't have to make any music or videos or games, but had an idea of how to make them easily accessible. Since this is novel and appropriate for our time and age, the book would define peer-to-peer sharing as creative. I think it is creative not only because it is novel and extremely appropriate, but because it is used by millions of people in our nation. Just like Smash Brothers, the idea has been accepted as creative by our society, so it has stayed around for a very long time. I know I use it simply so I can organize all of my music by albums because I love to listen to full albums and very rarely just a single song. When I pull up my menu on my iPod when I drive, I always organize by album so I can listen to the "album experience." This is made possible by the programs I use to share and organize my music. Even the music I buy off of iTunes, which is about 90% of my music, I transfer and organize in different programs before I sync them to my iPod. The creativity in peer-to-peer sharing is more of a conceptual idea than an actual product like music or art.
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The idea of peer to peer sharing can be one of the most useful things in creativity. Being able to see and understand the viewpoints of others is crucial when working on any given project. An open mind to these ideas my give you different ideas on the work at hand. The people that create ways for people to share ideas are considered genius my book. I experience the same things that you do on my IPod and my ITunes and couldn't agree with you more!
ReplyDeleteI agree B Kells, peer to peer is a great program even though some of it is illegal. This program has changed the music industry. It was a very creative idea because it allows you share videos and others things with your friends and family. Normally you would have to meet our friend in person to show them a video but now you are able to share videos while staying at home.
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