The Use of Computers in Entertainment

In today’s electronic era computers have a hand in almost everything. Entertainment is no

exception, in fact with the coming of digital information has made one of its greatest leaps.
Movies, games, music, even books that that are simple and easy as it is have been impacted
greatly by computers. But how far is too far? Music is now stolen, movies the same, games can
be hacked and broken into with simple programs. As technology continues, more and more
information will be taken, changed, stolen, and laws will then be made to try to stop all of this.
But all they really need is a good middle ground to work towards or land on.

With the coming of DVD’s computers moved into a big portion of the video industry. But with it
came the ability to take a movie off of the disk and distribute it over user sharing programs.
Many companies have tried to solve this problem by adding programs and such to the disks so
that the information cannot be stolen. This does not stop DVD pirating, but it does cut down on
the burning of DVDs. CD’s have also incorporated this type of programming for the same
reasons.

The music industry was turned upside down with the coming of Napster. Why this was is not
really understood, because many programs that were out previously that did the same thing.
Scour was a one of a kind program, and before that simple FTP sites were in abundance, as they
still are, to download music. Perhaps the ease of which Napster allowed users to share
information is what bothered them. But a lawsuit was taken against Napster, and it had to restrict
many of its features (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1000463.stm). But if they had simply
come to a common middle ground, perhaps having users pay to use the service or pay for the
music itself, would have been better. Just because Napster was forced to add program lines that
all but shut the program down didn’t mean the other user to user programs were forced to stop
being made. In fact when one is shut down it seems like 5 replace it. Because of this many
programs that have a service fee or a membership of some sort is ignored. Why pay when you
can get it for free.

The computer as well has impacted games. Well, in all reality games are the driving force of new
computer upgrades. But many games have tried to keep people from sharing copies by adding
programming that only allows a single computer to have the game on it, and online
communications with the company can create many problems. Some games that are now
produced have gone so far as to basically ruin the game to keep people from sharing game
(www.penny-arcade.com). There are no laws against this; in fact the laws work in favor of the
company not the user. Games can also be changed, or hacked, using hacking programs. These
programs allow a user to go into the game files and change them to suit their needs. If more
ammo in a game is wanted, change that code (GamePro Magazine pg. 84). Many companies feel
that this takes away from the integrity of the game. But as long as there are computers to create
games, there are computers that can dismantle the game as well and warp it to users want.

So when will it go too far? Will there soon be laws that won’t allow us to even play a game on
our computer for fear it is pirated. Or will we have to start paying more and more for games that
are already expensive. Will we be forced to pay to download things, or will the Internet have a
watchdog added to it to make sure that no one does anything else wrong. If that is the case then
perhaps our daily lives should be put under lock down as well. Most people do illegal things
every day even if they don’t realize it. Why are computers targeted more than other things?
Perhaps because there is so much money that goes into a computer, or a game, or the music that
is digitally created. Paying for services wouldn’t be a bad way to go, and everyone should be
happy then. But monopolies would then have the ability to take over and drive up prices, much
like they do in every day life. When will it end?

Computers started as very simplistic machines for storing and transferring data. Most of these
files were text-based reports used in a work environment. As technology advanced, computers
became increasingly versatile in what they could do. With the creation of the Internet and faster
processors, file sharing and entertainment became a popular use for personal computers
everywhere. Computers have endless uses in the entertainment industry by directly marketing
products to users.

Other People Are Reading

 Uses of Computers in Sports

 Use of Computers in Banks

Music

 Computers now have almost unlimited access to any song by any artist. Many website
services allow users to purchase individual tracks or albums directly to their computer.
Most record labels take advantage of these services to make up for lost revenue from
illegal downloading. Although, if users do not wish to purchase music, they can still
stream music from many websites free but with advertisements. Computers also open a
venue for many amateur musicians in the music industry to record their own music
without a professional studio. Computers also allow musicians to create artificial
instruments to record with, called MIDI instruments.

Television and Movies

 With the advancement of video card and Internet speeds, movies and streaming television
are now at the click of a mouse button. Many website services offer free-to-stream
movies with the cost of a monthly subscription fee. Some websites even offer free
streaming episodes of certain TV series with Internet commercials. With the use of newer
 HD televisions and computers, the option of sending your computers video feed to a full-
screen television is possible. In some cases, users may not even need to pay for cable
service or television because of all the free available video content online.

Art

 Art is something that is readily available online at any moment. Pictures, paintings,
poetry and more are just a click away. Popular browsers offer specific image search
options to quickly browse through art with a single keyword. Besides general use,
computer photo editing programs and animation programs are also the sources behind
most movies and professional photographs.

Games

 Computer games are a quickly growing market just like all other forms of video games.
However, computer games offer a very wide array of possibilities. Computers have
access to many peripheral devices such as keyboards, mouses, joysticks, controllers and
more. Computer games also are highly customizable because computers can manipulate
game files. Examples of this would be creating new levels, characters or graphic files for
specific games. In fact, computers are absolutely necessary for programming any sort of
new video game.