academic publishers. Music Sharing as a Computer S

Brown,B.,A.Sellen,E.Geelhoed(2001)Musicsharingasacomputersupportedcollaborativeapplication.In:ProceedingsofECSCW2001,Bonn,Germany.Kluweracademicpublishers.MusicSharingasaComputerSupportedCollaborativeApplicationBarryBrown1,AbigailJ.Sellen2,ErikGeelhoed21DepartmentofComputerScience,UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,U.K.2Hewlett-PackardResearchLabs,FiltonRoad,StokeGifford,Bristol,[e-mail],{abisel,eg}@hpl.hp.comAbstract:Newcomputerapplications,suchastheinfamous“Napster”systemenablethesharingofmusicovertheInternet,withlimitedcommunicationaroundthissharingactivity.Thispaperdiscussestheuseandopportunitiesforthesemusicsharingtechnologiesusinginterviewswithusersofbothconventionalandnewmusicsharingtechnologies.Thedatashowthatmusicsharingisapracticethatisrichlylinkedwithothersocialactivities.Newmusicisoftendiscoveredthroughfriends,bylisteningtomusictogether,orintheformofcompilationtapes.Intheseenvironments,sharingmusicisanaturalactivity.WithmusicsharingovertheInternet,however,muchofthissocialcontextisremoved.Thissuggestsopportunitiestoturnmusicsharingintoamorecollaborativeandcommunity-relatedactivity.Theseopportunitiesareexploredwiththe“MusicBuddy”,asystemforbrowsingothers’musiccollectionswithoutinfringingthecopyrightofartists.IntroductionOneofthemostcontroversialcomputerapplicationsoflatehasbeenthe“Napster”filesharingsystem.Napsterhasmadefront-pagenewsworldwide,withthelegaldramaaroundtheservicecausingmuchcommentandattention(seeforexample(Hellmore,2000,Richtel,2000)).NapsterisaprogramthatallowsausertocopyMP3musicfilesovertheInternetfromothermachinesrunningtheNapsterprogram.WhenauserrunsNapster,theirmusicfilesareautomaticallysharedontotheInternetcreatingacommunityofusersfromwhichmusiccanbedownloaded.Atthetimeofwriting,theNapsterwebsitefromwhichtheprogramcanbedownloadedhasbecomeoneofthemostpopularwebsitesworldwide,andtheNapstersystemitselfhasmorethan6.7millionactiveusers(Konrad,2000).WhilesharingmusicovertheInternetwaspossiblebeforeNapster,itinvolvedsettingupaserveronwhichmusiccouldbestoredanddownloaded.SincesharingmusicovertheInternetisanactivitythatisatbestofdubiouslegality,findingindividualswhowouldbewillingtodothiswasdifficultandsuchserverswereeasilyshutdown.Napster,however,usesapeer-to-peersharingmodelinthatanymachinerunningthisapplicationcanactasafileserverwithoutneedingtohaveapermanentconnectiontotheInternet.ThisextendsthenumberofpossibleserverstojustaboutanymachinethatcanbeconnectedtotheInternet.Byenablingthesharingofmusicbetweenitsusers,Napsterhasattractedtheattention–andlawsuits–ofthemusicindustry.Currently,Napsterisstillinvolvedinnumerouslawsuits,buthassettledwithanumberofthelabelsandisattemptingatransitiontoapay-for-useservice.Napstercomputerisesanactivitythathasbeencommonplaceformanyyears–thesharingandpiracyofmusicbetweenindividuals.Inthispaper,wewouldliketoinvestigatewhatlessonsthereareforCSCWfrominvestigatingmusicsharingwithbothconventionalandnewmedia.Thedatawehavecollectedforthispapercomefromin-depthinterviewswithusersofbothconventionalmusicmediaandearlyadoptersofthenewMP3technologies.Thisletsusunpacksomeofthecontrastsbetweensharingwithphysicaltangiblemedia(suchastapesorCDs)andsharingwithMP3filesovertheInternet.WestartthepaperbyexploringtherelevanceofmusicsharingtothefieldofCSCWandbrieflyreviewtheexistingliteratureonthistopic.Wethenmoveontodiscussingthestudyitselfwhichwasbasedaroundthirty-sixinterviewswithmusicenthusiasts.Thepaperthenlooksspecificallyathowconventionalmusicmediawereshared,andinparticularthesocialactivitieswhichtookplacearoundsharingmusic.Wethendiscusssharingmusiconline,andinparticularthedifferencesintangibilitybetweenMP3andphysicalmusicmedia.Intheimplicationssection,thepaperthendrawsouttherelevanceofthesefindingsanddiscussestwonewconceptswearedevelopingusingtheresultsfromtheempiricalstudytoexplorenewopportunitiesfordigitalmusicmedia.RelevanceofmusicsharingtoCSCWWhilemusicsharingisanovelactivityintermsofCSCW,itsimportanceisunderlinedinbothitsmassivepopularityandtheopportunitiesitpresentsforexploringsocialisation.OnlinemusicsharingthroughNapsterhasbeenverysuccessful.Alongwiththemediaattentionandcontroversy,thesystemitselfhasgatheredahugeuserbaseinaveryshorttime.Indeed,Napsterissomethingofalarge-scaleliveexperimentinonlinefilesharing.ByinvestigatingthesuccessofNapster,wecanlearnlessonsformoreconventionalCSCWapplications.Inturn,byunderstandingthesocialprocesseswhichareinvolvedinconventionalmusicsharing,wecangainunderstandingsofbothhownewmusictechnologiesmightevolveandhowbettertodesignproductsandserviceswhichsupportmusicactivities.Musicsharingisalsoanactivitythatallowsustoexploreissuessurroundingfriendshipandcommunity.ManyexistingInternetandCSCWtechnologiesareusedforcommunicationbetweenfriends.Perhapsthemostresearchedareinstantmessagingsystems(Bradner,etal.,1999,NardiandWhittaker,2000),butothersystemssuchasIRCandphotosharingsites(e.g.,Shutterfly)alsosupportfriendship.Howeversupportingtheactivitiesassociatedwithfriendshiphasnot,untilrecently,beenatopicinitsow