Essay #2 Final Paper

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2 Final Draft
1,539 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song that you like on the radio, so you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

The internet has helped the music industry expand faster than ever. However, what was once the source to the growth of many new artists trying to get spread their music to new listener’s and become the next big thing, is currently causing the entire industry to suffer. Musicians have embraced the digital world, helping to promote and license the use of legal programs for downloading music (Ernesto). They are constantly trying to lower the number of people who download music illegally, and they hope that by creating more programs that are legal, people will become more knowledgeable of these programs and start using them over illegal ones (Ernesto).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music has become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets). ####

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its member’s creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA). ####

More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music, to not financially be able to continue making music. If they are not receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing, until they get sued for millions of dollars.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Ernesto. “Music Piracy Not That Bad, Industry Says”. Torrent Freak. 18 Jan. 2009. 20 Aug. 2009.

“Facts about the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009.

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009.

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008.

“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Paper w/ Hyperlinks

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2
1,445 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song on the radio and think that is was a good song. So you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music as become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its members creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).

The global switch to digital music, whether it’s done legally or illegally, has impacted many different facets of today’s world. More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music to not financially continue to make music. If they are receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009. http://news.aol.com/article/student-joel-tenenbaum-to-pay-675000-in/535370

“Facts about the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009. http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/Mus_Ind_faq.htm

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-27-kazaa_x.htm

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/12/riaa-qualifies/

“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7832396.stm

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009 http://www.riaa.com/whatwedo.php

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Another Possible Source

Marc Parry. "Online Educators Won't Be Forced to Spy on Students, New Rules Say. " The Chronicle of Higher Education 12 Jun 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 20 Aug. 2009. The recently reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act requires accreditors to monitor steps colleges take to verify that an enrolled student is the same person who does the course work. Language in the law made some distance educators worry that they would need expensive technology to ensure that other people don't take students' tests. Educators feared the cost could endanger programs. But proposed federal regulations about fulfilling the law, worked out this May, would allow colleges to satisfy the mandate with techniques like secure log-ins and passwords or proctored examinations, according to people involved in the negotiations. Has good background information on the new Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Executioner's Outline

I. Thesis Statement: Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.
A. Strategy: State the major programs used and that the recording idustry is trying to stop them
II. Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years.
A. 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally (BBC News).
B. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads (BBC News).
C. 7% decrease in world's market value
III. Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it.
A. Economic crisis causes people to illegally download music.
B. State Convience and ease of illegal programs.
C. In 2008, over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, and just 1.4 billion legally (BBC News).
IV. Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well.
A. The music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry).
B. Total album sales fell 14% in 2008(Facts about the Music Industry).
C. Nearly 33% of all music sales in 2008 were done illegally(Facts about the Music Industry).
D. The global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually(The Price of Piracy).
V. There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge.
A. Lawsuit against Kazaa (Graham).
B. State how this led to other major lawsuits.
VI. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously.
A. Minnesota woman sued for $1.9 million (Winter).
B. Boston University student sued for $675,000 (Associated Press).
C. State how much you can be sued by under federal law (Associated Press).
D. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).
VII. In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010.
A. Tell what the Act states and everything that's involved (Greenwood).
B. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).
VIII. Concluding Strategy: State how people are causing the music industry to suffer by illegally downloading music.

Essay #2

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2 Rough Draft
1,445 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song on the radio and think that is was a good song. So you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music as become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its member’s creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).

The global switch to digital music, whether it’s done legally or illegally, has impacted many different facets of today’s world. More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music to not financially continue to make music. If they are receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

“Facts About the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009.

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009.

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008.
“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Research findings etc..

Over the past two days I have found out many new things that I didn’t realize about downloading music. I have found some good articles on how college campuses are trying to prevent students from illegally downloading and sharing music over their internet connections. Downloading music has almost become an everyday thing and a lot of people don’t realize that the consequences that can come by doing it illegally. I’ve researched a few court cases where people were sued for illegally downloading music and the amount of money that they had to pay was enormous. People today have become more and more accepting of downloading music for free because of the financial relief that it brings. Especially in the current economic state that we are in, people can’t afford to spend $1 for every song that they want to hear. So they turn to illegal downloading programs such as LimeWire. These programs are very easy to use and they could eventually end up costing your millions. The focus of my essay has changed in that I was going to research how people get caught illegally downloading music, but now I’m looking more into the financial relief and the fight to prevent people from downloading and sharing their music without paying for it. I am also not going to focus on the particular programs that people use to download music as much in my paper as what I originally had thought. My working thesis at this point is more and more people every day start to download music for free versus paying for it due to a multitude of different reasons.

Annotated Bib #2

Bainwol, M.. "Courting Success. " Billboard 6 Jun 2009: General Interest Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. During the last 10 years, a series of court decisions in the United States and abroad have confirmed that basic property rights in the physical world apply in the online world too. [...] the more salient barometer is that the share of Internetconnected households that download music from P2P sites has remained essentially flat during the past three years, all while broadband access has expanded and legal digital music consumption has grown dramatically. Good stuff on how much digital music makes up music sales.

"Business: Free but legal; Spotify v illegal downloads. " The Economist 1 Aug. 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Can legal free music compete with the illegal stuff? It seems so. Firms such as Spotify, founded by Swedish programmers, and we7, based in Britain, stream music on demand to European computers in return for nothing more burdensome than the odd advertisement. Together they have quickly amassed 8m users. It is a bright spot in the music industry's long, perilous journey to the digital world. Worldwide sales of music in the form of CDs and DVDs fell by 15% last year, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Digital revenues, though rising, are not making up the shortfall. Most worrying is the rise of a generation used to obtaining music illegally through file-sharing, particularly in Europe. Lawsuits and crackdowns have displaced file-sharing from public networks into more secretive ones and into things like e-mail, from which it will be virtually impossible to root out. Good article on a new program that streams music for free, and how they are trying to get apple to make an application for the iPhone.

Chen, Y., R. Shang, and A. Lin. "The intention to download music files in a P2P environment: Consumption value, fashion, and ethical decision perspectives. " Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 7.4 (2008): 411. Business Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Downloading unauthorized music file, being framed as a problem of crime, is deemed unethical, but the peer-to-peer systems have boosted its popularity and have become the killer application for the music industry. Two factors, cost savings from CD purchase and the low moral reasoning ability of Internet users, have been frequently attributed as rationales for this behavior. Music download, however, can also be interpreted as a value maximizing behavior that chooses between the values from consuming illicit and legitimate music, wherein the consumption value is partly dependent on one's degree of fashion involvement since music is fashionable. This paper presents a conceptual model of music download by looking at and integrating these seldom noticed perspectives with traditional explanations. An analysis of 834 samples drew from a survey of P2P users in Taiwan reveals that: people are maximizing value while downloading music; and that fashion involvement influences the perception of consumption value from music download. This study also found that moral reasoning moderate the relationships among fashion involvement, consumption value, and behavioral intention to download music. Really good stuff on why file sharing has become so popular due to the expense of legally purchasing the music.


Chris Taylor. "Music's new mousetrap. " Time 3 Feb. 2003: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. If you're under 35 and own a computer with a high-speed Internet connection, chances are you've indulged in a very 21st century vice: sharing and downloading music (on services like Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire) without the music industry's permission. And like millions of others, you could now be in trouble. Has good information on how many people use downloading programs and how many songs they use.

"A GLOBAL PROBLEM. " Billboard 24 May 2008: General Interest Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Current German copyright law gives rights owners a civil right to demand Internet protocol data from ISPs only if a criminal action is initiated by the public prosecutor's office. * The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled March 19, in an interim decision, that IP data should only be given out in cases of serious crimes, not for such offenses as copyright infringements. * Rights owners are teen for French-style "three strikes" legislation; meetings with ISPs and the Minister of Justice have not yet produced results. Not relevant to what I’m writing in my paper, although it does have some interesting facts in it.

Greenwood, B.. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates. " Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Ever since Shawn Fanning created the original Napster in a Northeastern University dorm room, colleges have struggled to keep students from illegally downloading music over school Internet networks. Over time, anti-piracy strategies have evolved continuously, adapting to the fluidity of the music industry. Recently, the government entered the fray with the passage of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Signed into law in August 2008 and set to take effect in July 2010, the act states that universities must develop plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material via technological deterrents. Colleges pursuing site-license agreements are finding that fewer companies are now providing them. About three years ago, the Illinois State University kicked off its Digital Citizen Project, the goal of which is to research, discover, and establish best practices for shifting consumption of media on university campuses, according to the project's Web site. Really good stuff on how campuses are struggling to keep students from illegally downloading music.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. A new study by the Institute for Policy Innovation finds that global music piracy costs the US economy $12.5 billion in losses and 71,060 jobs annually. The report breaks down losses by physical piracy (bootleg CDs) and illegal downloads on peer-to-peer networks. To derive these numbers, the study estimated "substitution" rates, which assumes that without counterfeit channels, many pirates would purchase legitimate products. Good information on the bad side of illegal downloading.

Annotated Bib

Albanese, Andrew. "Cyberexperts: Fight the RIAA!." Library Journal 132.10 (June 2007): 15-18. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 10 Aug. 2009 https://login.lib-proxy.usi.edu/url="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct="true&db="aph&AN="25266055" loginpage="login.asp&site="ehost-live&scope="site".The article reports on efforts by academics at Harvard University Law School to influence the university's cooperation with the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) attempts to identify students allegedly downloading music files illegally. Wendy M. Seltzer and Charles R. Nesson published an editorial in the April 2007 "Harvard Crimson" saying that university compliance would undermine the "educational mission" of the school, chill innovation, and compromise students' rights. Not very in depth material. No good.

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case” 31 July 2009. 6 Aug. 2009 http://news.aol.com/article/student-joel-tenenbaum-to-pay-675000-in/535370. This article explains the case against a Boston University student who was sued by the record industry for illegally sharing and downloading songs. Has good information on the consequences of downloading and sharing music illegally.

BBC News. “Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. 16 Jan. 2009. 6 Aug. 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7832396.stm. This article explains how nearly all of music that is digitally downloaded, is done illegally. Nearly 95% of all music that is downloaded is illegally downloaded. It also shows the decline is album sales due to the increase in illegally downloaded music. This contains good information on the growth of illegallky downloaded music and how it has influenced album sales.

Berr, Bruce. "iSwoons Over iTunes." American Music Teacher 58.3 (Dec. 2008): 72-72. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.10 Aug. 2009 https://login.lib-proxy.usi.edu/login url="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?" direct="true&db="aph&AN="35981642&l" oginpage="login.asp&site="ehost-live&scope="site".The article discusses the advantages of iTunes software and its ability to download individual pieces from collections in the U.S. The author stated that iTunes help save the time in gaining access to a specific track from CDs and at the same time it facilitates recital management. In addition, downloading music helps in solving problems identifying the similarities and differences of the music. Good information on the advantages of iTunes.

Greenwood, B.. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates. " Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 10 Aug. 2009. Ever since Shawn Fanning created the original Napster in a Northeastern University dorm room, colleges have struggled to keep students from illegally downloading music over school Internet networks. Over time, anti-piracy strategies have evolved continuously, adapting to the fluidity of the music industry. Recently, the government entered the fray with the passage of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Signed into law in August 2008 and set to take effect in July 2010, the act states that universities must develop plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material via technological deterrents. Colleges pursuing site-license agreements are finding that fewer companies are now providing them. About three years ago, the Illinois State University kicked off its Digital Citizen Project, the goal of which is to research, discover, and establish best practices for shifting consumption of media on university campuses, according to the project's Web site. Has good material on how illegal music downloading has grown more popular on college campuses and how they are trying to eliminate it.

Knopper, Steve. "Digital Album Prices Slashed." Rolling Stone (05 Feb. 2009): 13-14. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 10 Aug. 2009 https://login.lib-roxy.usi.edu/login? url="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct="true&db="aph&AN="36288219&login" page="login.asp&site="ehost-live&scope="site".This article reports that music labels and digital music retailers are beginning to reduce the prices for downloading music singles and albums. The iTunes Store from Apple and the Amazon digital music store have both begun offering reduced prices on certain selections. iTunes sales promotions of the music albums "Fleet Foxes," by Fleet Foxes, and "Oracular Spectacular," by MGMT, are cited as examples. Good material on decreasing value of recorded music.

"NEWS CAPSULES." Student Affairs Leader 36.19 (Oct. 2008): 3-3. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.10 Aug. 2009 https://login.lib-proxy.usi.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost direct="true&db="aph&AN="34948501&loginpage="login.asp&site="ehost-live&scope="site".The article offers news briefs related to the developments of campuses in the U.S. Campuses are increasingly adopting a new way to reduce waste and water use by serving food without trays in campus cafeterias. University of Kansas and other universities will not forward the pre-litigation letters from the Recording Industry Association of America to students suspected of illegally downloading music. Doesn’t have much to do with the topic I am writing.

Thompson, Robert. "Throttled." Billboard 120.18 (03 May 2008): 20-20. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.10 Aug. 2009 https://login.lib-proxy.usi.edu/login?url=http://search. direct="true&db="aph&AN="31837083&loginpage="login." site="ehost-live&scope="site". The article discusses Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, which have been cutting network speeds for peer-to-peer (P2P) and torrent use, a practice known as throttling. It is said that 95% of such traffic on most Canadian networks is created by less than 10% of users, the majority of whom are illegally downloading music and movies. Legal downloading services, like iTunes Canada and Puretracks, are unaffected by throttling. Has good information on how file sharing programs are becoming more popular and how it’s used to illegally download music.

Essay #2 Game Plan

1. I chose the first option using the title Generation Download. I think this will be the best option for me because I know a lot about downloading music since I do it almost every day. I use one of the most popular programs for downloading music, LimeWire, which is mentioned in a lot of the articles that I read about music downloading. I have hundreds of songs that I have downloaded and know the benefits of not having to pay for them versus spending 99 cents for every song on iTunes. This topic is also very relative to young adults who listen to a lot of music on their own, many of which download songs themselves.

2. The topic I am choosing is Downloading Music

3. My audience will be young adults and teens from the ages of 14 to 25. This is the major range of people who download music and would be able to relate to the article. The reader should take notice to this essay because it will describe some of the major laws that are being broken every time you download a song, and the severity of the punishment. People are constantly being sued by the record industry over people who are illegally downloading and sharing music. Almost every person in this age either currently downloads music or has at some time previously. Almost every one of my friends downloads music for free just like I do. People don't have the money to be able to afford to pay $1 for every song that they want. It is much more affordable option to be able to download every song you want for free. I know that I will download a song that I haven't heard and if I don't like it, and then I will delete it. But if you have to pay a dollar for it you're not going to buy it just to hear it one time not knowing if you like it or not.

4. I will use multiple modes of writing in my essay. I will use cause and effect to describe the effect of illegally downloading music, as well as illustration proving examples of what some of the punishment have been and what they could possibly be. There will also be some process and analysis used to show how people download and share their music.

5. The research I have done has given me multiple cases of people who have illegally downloaded and share music, and then were sued by the recording industry for thousands and even millions of dollars. I have discovered many facts of how many songs are legally and illegally downloaded every year. One article said that 95% of songs that were downloaded in 2008 were downloaded illegally. I found that to be really interesting. My future research will go into the main programs used to download music both legally and illegally, as well how people get caught illegally downloading music.

Twelve things you won't know about downloading music

1. Fact or detail: Under federal law, recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement if you are found guilty of illegally downloading and sharing music. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful.

Source information: AOL News http://news.aol.com/article/student-joel-tenenbaum-to-pay-675000-in/535370

2. Fact or detail: On July 31, 2009, a jury found a Boston University student guilty of illegally downloading and sharing music and was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels.

Source information: AOL News http://news.aol.com/article/student-joel-tenenbaum-to-pay-675000-in/535370

3. Fact or detail: On June 18, 2009 a minnesota woman was found guilty of illegally sharing online music and ordered to pay $1.92 million to the recording industry.

Source information: USA Today http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/06/minn-woman-must-pay-19m-for-sharing-music.html?loc=interstitialskip

4. Fact or detail: The US recording idustry is represented by the RIAA (Recording Idustry Association of America). It's mission is to foster a business and legal climate that supports and promotes it's members' creative and financial vitality.

Source information: RIAA http://www.riaa.com/whatwedo.php

5. Fact or detail: One of the major file sharing firm was paid $100 million in 2006 to settle a copyright lawsuit.

Source information: USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-27-kazaa_x.htm

6. Fact or detail: In 2003, the recording indiustry filed 261 lawsuit in it's first series of suits against people who have illegally downloaded over 1,000 songs

Source information: Encyclopedia http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-108098360.html

7. Fact or detail: As of 2004, more than 400 people had settled fines averaging $3,000.

Source information: CMTA http://www.cmta.com/brochure.htm

8. Fact or detail: Repeat offenders can be imprisoned for up to 10 years

Source information: CMTA http://www.cmta.com/brochure2.htm

9. Fact or detail: 33% of all music sold in 2008 was digital.

Source information: IT Facts http://www.itfacts.biz/33-of-all-music-sold-in-2008-was-digital/12867

10. Fact or detail: total album sales in 2008 fell 14%, following a 15% drop in 2007.

Source information: IT Facts http://www.itfacts.biz/album-sales-down-14-in-2008/12371

11. Fact or detail: Sales of CD's have decreased since people began burning CD's. A loss of between $700 million and $1.5 billion worth is the latest estimate mostly lost by US owned companies.

Source information: Silver Dragon Records http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/Mus_Ind_faq.htm

12. Fact or detail: The IFPI says that 95% of music downloads in 2008 were illegal. Approximately 40 billion songs were illegally downloaded last year alone. An average of 30 songs per internet user worldwide. Compared to 1.4 billion songs legally downloaded. 9.1 million of which were Lil Wayne's song Lollipop. By far the most legally downloaded song in the world.

Source information: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7832396.stm

Let There Be Links

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/08/joel-tenenbaum-riaa.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/08/divx-paramount-lionsgate.html

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/06/minn-woman-must-pay-19m-for-sharing-music.html?loc=interstitialskip

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04282009/news/regionalnews/download_ma_faces_the_music__pays_7g_166549.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/arts/music/01arts-GRADUATESTUD_BRF.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=downloading%20music&st=cse

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/was-wall-street-starstruck-by-michael-jackson/?scp=4&sq=downloading%20music&st=cse

Modes/topic sentence/paragraph development

1. Description: As soon as I opened the door to the apartment, I knew that my roommate had played party host all weekend long. All of the pillows from the couch were sprawled across the floor. Blankets everywhere. The trash cans overflowing with empty beer cans and red plastic cups that smelled oh so pleasant. The cd in the cd player stuck on repeat playing the same song over and over. Finally i walk into my room to get away fromt he mess, just to find some random person passed out on my bed. I need a new roommate.

2. Illustration: There are many ways that the university bookstore takes advantage of students. From the small items such as pens and pencils, to middle ones like t-shirts and lanyards. The bookstore loves to manipulate prices to their liking. They're favorite item for pricing differences is of course textbooks. When you first buy the book at the beginning of the semester it cost a whopping $135. Then at the end of the year you go back to the bookstore to sell your book back and all they offer youo is a mere $60. At the start of the next semester you see your book from last year that you sold back for $60 priced at a lovely $110. What a great feeling.

3. Narration: I woke up with a pounding headache, not looking forward to the 10 hour work day that was ahead. I get out of bed and get ready to go in. As soon as I open the door to go outside, the heat from the sweltering day rushes into the house. The day continues working hard out it the boiling sun all day with no break in the heat. The day eventually comes to an end and I head home. When it was all said and done, I was just glad to call it a day.

4. Description: When I first met Fern, I knew immediately that she was a smoker. I'm sittuing in my chair waiting for clash to start. The door opens and a rush of cigarette smoke billows into the room. I could she smell it from the complete opposite side of the room. I saw a small hole on the leg of her jeans, sure to be a burn hole from the ash of the cigarrette she had just puffed down before class started. Throughout the duration of the class the smell lingered on and on. I couldn't wait for the clock to signal the end of class, so that i could make my escape.

5. Process: My roommate has a very peculiar morning ritual. First, when he wakes up, he heads straight to the bathroom. The he comes out and turns the tv on but doesn't even watch it. he sits in the kitchen and eats a bowl of cereal. Then he heads back to the bathoom to brush his teeth and take a shower. After the shower is over, he gets dressed, grabs his keys, puts his shoes on, then turns off the tv and heads out the door. For some reason the tv has to be on else he can't seem to get ready in the morning.

6. Cause/Effect: Attending USI has changed my life in many ways. I never minded driving anywhere in my life, until i came to USI. parking is awful. You drive around in circles for what seems like an eternity just to find a spot. Then the construction. It's everywhere. You just want to get out of the place, but it seems like an entire day passes before you escape with your vehichle. I found i don't like to spend as much time in my car anymore after the extended period of time I am in it just at school.

Essay #1 Final Draft

Something to Look Forward to
Every family has traditions. My family is no exception. I think traditions make any occasion more meaningful and memorable. They give you something to look forward to at certain times of the year. It can build up anticipation of an event, to almost make it out to be more than what it really is. There are many different types of traditions, from large ones to small ones, but each tradition has its own special and meaningful significance. Every tradition varies in type, but they all can bring about a common thing, happiness. The main tradition that my family has is definitely with food. Everyone in my extended family loves it, but who doesn’t.
The main cook in my family is definitely my mom. She has a few specialty dishes that she always makes on special occasions. She makes sausage and egg casserole, green bean casserole, and something she calls Hotsy Totsy. I like all of these dishes except for her green bean casserole. I have never really liked it, even though she makes it for almost every family get together. My favorite dish however, is definitely Hotsy Totsy. I’m not sure of everything that is in it, but I know it is some kind of Italian dish that has meat and marinara sauce, but also has layers of crumbled Doritos chips. It certainly is not the healthiest meal in the world, which is why we only have it once or twice a year. The one time of year that you know my mom is making Hotsy Totsy is on my birthday. Its one thing that you know is definitely going to happen. When I wake up on the morning of my birthday, I can’t help but have a smile on my face, because I know exactly what’s for dinner, and I know it’s going to be delicious. It’s been a tradition since the first time I ate it when my mom was experimenting with new meals out of a cookbook she had. From that first bite I took, I knew that meal was a keeper. Ever since then I have always asked my mom to make that on my birthday, and it’s always something to look forward to.
There are certain dishes that are a tradition for special occasions. My mom always makes green bean casserole for almost every occasion. She loves it. Whether it's just a get together with friends, or a family reunion, she always brings that dish. People would probably think that something was wrong if she showed up at our family reunion without her green bean casserole. It’s just one thing that everybody associates with her, but as long as it’s a good association, then she’s perfectly fine with it.
Every Thanksgiving my family and other relatives go down to my grandparent’s house. It's about a 2 hour drive from my house and we usually arrive around 11 or 12. As soon as we open the door to go inside, you can smell everything that is cooking in the kitchen, and you know you're in the right place. My grandma always makes a delicious turkey while my other aunts help prepare mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, peas, green beans, yams, rolls, and all of the other foods people enjoy on Thanksgiving. Usually at family reunions everyone brings some kind of dish. My mom, of course, brings her green bean casserole, but the other dish that is a must have at family events is my aunt’s chip dip. Nobody knows what kind of dip it is, or what is in it, but the one thing people do know, it that it is amazing. It's something I’ve never seen around at a store or anywhere else. I think it's just some random thing she has thrown together. However it's made though doesn't matter to me, as long as it continues to be delicious. As soon as you bite into it you get a hint of something spicy and adds all of the flavor you could ask for to the chip. You could have the worst chip you’ve ever tasted, but if you put some of the dip on it, it will quickly turn into the best. That’s one thing that makes family members want to arrive early, to ensure that they would get their turn at the famous chip dip. If the dip ran out before you got there, the day was sure to be a tiny let down.
On Christmas we always have sausage and egg casserole for breakfast that my mom prepares the night before. You can start to smell it throughout the house on Christmas Eve when she is preparing the dish. After it is prepared, she puts it in the fridge so on Christmas morning, all she has to do is put it in the oven, and breakfast is served. Then for kind of a “lupper” type of meal, a lunch and supper time mix, at around 3 or 4ish we have a big ham that my mom has cooking in the oven all day. Most of my family members that live in town come over to my house to celebrate. As people are walking in the door they comment on how good everything smells. The smell sets the appropriate atmosphere that tells you this is a time for celebration. After dinner on Christmas Day, my grandma always brings out her home cooked fudge. Whether it the peanut butter or the chocolate fudge, you know you will enjoy every bite. The fudge is the perfect ending for the perfect day of perfect food.Having the traditional foods at get-togethers and holidays is important because if my mom didn't make her usual sausage and egg casserole for breakfast on Christmas morning, then the day just wouldn't seem to have started right. As well as having ham for dinner, the whole Christmas experience just wouldn't feel the same. I think having the same dishes gives you something special to look forward to on every occasion, and makes those occasions seem that much more special when you get to eat the dishes that you have been craving for since last thanksgiving ended. The special dishes signifies the importance and the happiness that comes with getting people get together and just having a good time while enjoying each other’s company. If every holiday is just people bringing different foods all of which are just OK, then the whole experience can become kind of bland and boring. When you get that one dish that everybody loves and someone brings it every time, you know you are going to have something to look forwards too other than just seeing all of your relatives that you have seen in a while. Tradition can carry on family bonding and happiness for years, and hopefully generations.

Essay #1 Rough Draft

Virtually every family has traditions. My family is no exception. I love traditions. I think they make any occasion more meaningful and memorable. Traditions give you something to look forward to at certain times of the year. They can build up an anticipation of an event to almost make it out to be more than what it really is. There are many different types of traditions, from large ones to small ones, but each tradition has its own special and meaningful significance. Every tradition varies it type but they all can bring about a common thing, happiness. The main tradition that my family has definitely is with food. Everyone in my extended family loves it, but who doesn’t.
The main cook in my family is definitely my mom. She cooks most of the time, but not all the time. When my mom isn't the one doing the cooking, my dad takes over. Whenever he has to cook, he will usually just prepare something simple and easy to make. He won't make the most extravagant thing, but it usually tastes OK. Although, sometimes I do get a little scared when I hear he is going to cook dinner. He's pretty good at making some grilled cheese, so if I smell that I know it's going to be alright. But anything else that isn’t simple to make, or that is off the beaten path, you might want to watch out for. My dad doesn't have any specialty dishes. He will usually just make some tacos or something simple like that. My mom however, has a few specialty dishes. She makes sausage and egg casserole, green bean casserole, enchiladas, and something she calls Hotsy Totsy. I like all of those dishes except for her green bean casserole. I have never really liked it, even though she makes it for almost every family get together. My favorite dish is definitely Hotsy Totsy, with enchiladas coming in a close second. I’m not sure of everything that is in the Hotsy Totsy that she makes but I know it is some kind of Italian dish that has meat and marinara sauce but also has layers of crumbled Doritos chips. It certainly is not the healthiest meal in the world, which is why we only have it once or twice a year. Anything else she makes it usually pretty good too.
There are certain dishes that are kind of a tradition for certain occasions. My mom always makes green bean casserole for almost every occasion. She loves it. Whether it's just a get together with friends or a family reunion, she always brings that dish. People would probably think that something was wrong if she showed up at our family reunion with her green bean casserole. It’s just one thing that everybody associates with her, but as long as it’s a good association, then she’s perfectly fine with it. On Christmas we always have sausage and egg casserole for breakfast that my mom prepares the night before. You can always start to smell it throughout the house on Christmas Eve when she is getting the dish prepared. After she prepares it, she puts it in the fridge so on Christmas morning all she has to do is put it in the oven and breakfast is served. Then for kind of a “lupper” kind of meal, a lunch and supper time mix, at around 3 or 4ish we have a big ham that my mom has cooking in the oven all day. Most of my family members that live in town come over to my house and we all have a good time.
Every Thanksgiving my family and other relatives go down to my grandparent’s house. It's about a 2 hour drive from my house and we usually arrive around 11 or 12. As soon as we open the door to go inside, you can smell everything that is cooking in the kitchen, and you know you're in the right place. My grandma always makes a delicious turkey while my other aunts help prepare mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, peas, green beans, yams, rolls, and all of the other foods people enjoy on Thanksgiving. Usually at family reunions everyone brings some kind of dish. My mom of course brings her green bean casserole, but the other dish that is a must have at family events is my aunt’s chip dip. Nobody knows what kind of dip it is or what is in it, but the one thing people do know, it that it is amazing. It's something I’ve never seen around at a store or anywhere else. I think it's just some random thing she has thrown together. However it's made though doesn't matter to me as long as it continues to be delicious. That’s one thing that makes family members want to arrive early, to ensure that they would get their turn at the famous chip dip.
Having the traditional foods at get-togethers and holidays is important because if my mom didn't make her usual sausage and egg casserole for breakfast on Christmas morning, then the day just wouldn't seem to have started right. As well as having ham for dinner, the whole Christmas experience just wouldn't feel the same. I think having the same dishes gives you something special to look forward to on every occasion, and makes those occasions seem that much more special when you get to eat the dishes that you have been craving for since last thanksgiving ended. The special dishes signifies the importance and the happiness that comes with getting people get together and just having a good time while enjoying each other’s company. If every holiday is just people bringing different foods all of which are just OK, then the whole experience can become kind of bland and boring. When you get that one dish that everybody loves and someone brings it every time, you know you are going to have something to look forwards too other than just seeing all of your relatives that you have seen in a while. Tradition can carry on family bonding and happiness for years, and hopefully generations.

Essay #1 gameplan

1. I am going to select the Food + Family prompt because I already know of quite a few dishes that are very popular and traditional at my family reunions and get togethers. There are certain things that people bring every time and make those get togethers just feel right. The others options for writing prompts didn't seem to interest me very much. I have tried almost every kind of food thats out there so i couldn't really do the Food + Adventure since I have encountered most foods. I also don't have anybody that I know that does certain things so they can have the type of body where they would be accepted by everyone so that kind of ruled out the Food + Practices option.

2. The modes that will help me out the most are definately description, Illustration, and Classification. I can classify certain dishes to go with specific holidays and get togethers. With illustration I can provide examples of what every one brings to the special occasions and how they bring the same thing as a tradition. I will aslo describe how having all the foods there makes the reunions and get togethers feel more important and fun.

3. I will include detail of what dishes are brought and how they are brought everytime. This will accomplish getting the reader to undersatnd how having the same thing makes it feel right, whereas if someone is missing and/or their dish is missing, then it just doesn't feel the same and it feels as if something is missing. I will include detail of what is in the dishes and what makes them taste so good, so that the reader can feel like they are right next to the dish, and as if they if they are about to eat it themselves.

4. I will definately try to recreate Thanksgiving and Christmas because those are two major hollidays that are well known for having delicious foods. My family is no exception. Thanksgiving is definately a holliday that is surrounded by food and my grandmas turkey is the key to it all. As well as on christmas when my mom makes ham for dinner.

5. My main reason for writing will to be able to signify the importance of tradition and how that bring a family together. When you have something to look forward to on a certain holliday it kind of makes it that much more enjoyable. If every holliday is just randomness it gets kind of boring and not nearly as enjoyable. I will try to accomplish that possibly someone could read this and try to start their own traditions of their own that they can start with their family. Then that family can carry those traditions on for generations and generations to come. Making every holliday and family get together a complete success.

6. When I write I tend to repeat myself and kind of just say the same thing but using different words. I need to be able to get more detail into my writing and not just write about the main things that everyone already knows and expects. I need to find something that intrigues the reader and wants them to continue reading on and not think about how they would rather be doing someting else. I can overcome these difficulties by just digging deep and coming up with all the little details that go along with my essay and the family get togethers. Gather all the finite details and not just the ones that are obvious.

Brainstorming Ideas--food

The main cook in my family is definately my mom. She cooks most of the time, but not all the time. When my mom isn't the one doing the cooking my dad takes over. When my dad has to cook he will usually just prepare something simple and easy to make. He won't make the most extravagent thing but it usually tastes OK. Sometime I do get a little scared though when I hear he is going to cook dinner. He's pretty good at making some grilled cheese, so if i smell that i know it's going to alright. My dad doesn't have any specialty dishes. he will usually just make some tacos or something simple like that. My mom however, has a few specialty dishes. She makes sausgae and egg casserole, green bean casserole, enchilladas, and something she calls Hotsy Totsy. I like all of those dishes except for her green bean casserole. i have never really liked it, even she makes it for almost every family get together. My favorite dish is definately Hotsy Totsy, with enchilladas coming in a close second.
There are certain dishes that are kind of a tradition for certain occasions. My mom always makes green bean casserole for almost every occasion. She loves it. Whether it's just a get together with friends or a family reunion, she always brings that dish. On Christmas we always have sausage and egg casserole for breakfast that my mom prepares the night before. Then for kind of a lunch and dinner time mix at around 3 or 4ish we have a big ham. Most of my family memeber that liove in town all come over to my house and all have a good time. Every Thanksgiving my family and other relatives go down to my grandparents house. It's about a 2 hour drive from my house and we usually arrive around 11 or 12. As soon as we open the door to enter you can smell everything that is cooking in the kitchen and you know you're in the right place. My grandma always makes delicious trukey while my other aunts help prepare mashed potatoes and corn and all the other foods people enjoy on thanksgiving. Usually at family reunions everyone brings some kind of dish. My mom of course brings green bean casserole (I'm sure you could have guessed that by now), but my aunt always brings an amazing chip dip. It's something i've never seen around at a store or anywhere else. I thinks it's just some random thing she has thrown together. However it's made though doesn't matter to me as long as it continues to be delicious.
Having the traditional foods at get togethers and holidays is important because if my mom didn't make her usual sausage and egg casserole for breakfast on christmas morning, then the day just wouldn't seem to have started right. As well as having our ham for dinner, the whole Christmas experience just wouldn't feel the same. I think having the same dishes gives you something special to look forward to on every occasion, and makes those occasions seem that much more special when you get to eat the dishes that you have been craving for since last thanksgiving ended. The special dishes signifies the importance and the happiness that comes with having people get together and just have a good time and enjoy each others company.

Food

One of my favorite foods is chicken. There are so many different ways you can cook, and differnt meals that contain chicken. My favorite meal that has involves chicken is chicken parmesan. I get it every time I go out to eat at an italian restaraunt. It's by far my favorite meal. I also enjoy to eat chicken salads and chicken fingers. I find all of them appealing. You can have fried chicken or grilled chicken. Whether you just have the chicken by itself or you make it into a sandwhich, they are both enjoyable.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Nathan Sansing.
I attend USI and am majoring in Business Administration. I've played baseball my whole life and love to play and watch it. Some of my favorite tv shows are Weeds, Prison Break, Around the Horn, and PTI. I am a manager at Walther's Golf N Fun and spend a lot of time working there. I like to watch movies and hang out with my friends just being a normal guy.