Downloading Legally

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us

Green Living: Don’t Download Music

November 8, 2010

fullWait – isn’t that all wrong? Isn’t downloading the greener option? After all, when we download music, we cut back on CDs and other material things that put a strain on the environment, right?

As a matter of fact, this is what Jonathan G. Koomey, Christopher L. Weber, and H. Scott Matthews shared in a study they released some time ago. Their conclusion was this:

“…despite the increased energy and emissions associated with Internet data flows, purchasing music digitally reduces the energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with delivering music to customers by between 40 and 80 percent from the best-case physical CD delivery, depending on whether a customer then burns the files to CD or not. This reduction is due to the elimination of CDs, CD packaging, and the physical delivery of CDs to the household. Based on our assumptions, online delivery is clearly superior from an energy and CO2 perspective when compared to traditional CD distribution.”

And just like that, we have proven the title of this post to be incorrect. Or have we, really?

The authors were quick to point out that this entire scenario is not always applicable. They made assumptions; assumptions that are not always true. We have to take into consideration other factors such as end-user behavior (yes that’s us!).

What if you walk to the music store to buy CDs instead of driving? What if you had to buy blank CDs or DVDs to burn your downloaded files? What if you printed CD/DVD covers to print your downloaded album art? Taking these factors into consideration, you might not be helping the environment all that much if you downloaded music rather than bought them at the store.

Bottom line: you have to consider ALL players of the game before you go around declaring that by downloading, you are helping the earth. Oh, and there is that issue of where and how you download you content. That’s another story altogether, isn’t it?

· Downloading Legally, Music, Random Thoughts

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Music
  • Videos
  • Resources
  • Freeware
  • Applications
  • Podcasts

What’s Hot

How to Download and Watch Free Movies

Watching movies has never been so convenient and easy until today, thanks to internet technology. Nowadays, people can just simply go online and . . .

Read the Post

How Korea is Successfully Managing Piracy

As in most of the world, copyright laws in South Korea have been steadily improving in the past several years, especially as they relate to artists' . . .

Read the Post

Freeware VST’s To Make Your Head Spin! (Part 1)

Today we're going to be looking at a very particular type of software - VSTs! VSTs are Virtual Instruments used by musicians and producers to gain . . .

Read the Post

Downloading Webinars

Seminars conducted over the Internet known as webinars are of great help to many people interested in learning. The webinars being offered today are . . .

Read the Post

3 Legal Ways to Download High-Quality Music for Free

The Internet has made it incredibly easy to get access to music and share it. With services like Pandora and Spotify, music lovers can listen to . . .

Read the Post

Copyright © 2023