IMPORTANT NOTE: A while back some of you may remember that I posted a video response blog for my class. Well, this is another one of those entries. Its about the CBC News World Piece "The End", a three part documentary about the changing formats of media. This is not an average every day entry and will not involve my typical banter, please be advised. Check back later for more music news but in the mean time, here is my assignment post: The End...
Image Source: CBC
As a media dependent society, many of us are aware of the changes that challenge current formats. We are amidst a large and critical change in media right now, a shift from print and analogue to digital. This idea is explored well through the CBC News World series "The End". The three part piece focuses on the adaptations of radio, print and tv news medium and explains that it really is the end of the media world as we know it.
The first part discusses the increasing belief that radio is dying out. After watching this, I have to say it merely confirmed my own beliefs. Radio as a music technology is over. The songs are rarely updated, the playlist is composed of a limited number of songs and the technology is becoming increasingly obsolete. Gone are the days where radio ruled the airwaves... Ipods, MP3s and file sharing have made music accessible just about anywhere. Conventional radio stations are limited by the extent of their frequencies, while online and satellite stations are portable across the globe. I know I made the switch to satellite a long time ago and I have not looked back since. Traffic updates can be sent to your phone, local news is published online... what use does radio serve to us now? As much as a I love locality and DJ banter, its just not as useful in my day to day life anymore. The concept of radio is not dead, but the format is changing to digital. We are living in the world of the Podcast.
The second part of the series focuses on the technology of TV. The classic television model is a stationary, at home device that provides us with entertainment and news. However, as the documentary discusses, the TV of the future is on the verge of taking over. TV technologies are becoming more accessible. We do not have to sit at home anymore, our favorite shows are now portable and everywhere. This is what the consumer wants... fast, easy and accessible. Companies are being forced to throw away the standards of the past and come up with these new technologies to keep up with their changing market.
The third and final installment features an already visibly troubled media, Print. Over the past year we have lost several magazines and newspapers to the failing economic pressures. With this landslide, it was only too obvious that print media would soon die out. Online media has been taking over for many years now. More accessible, more up to date, and more cost efficient, it is the model of the present and certainly the future. Though I will miss the feeling of the pages in my hands, this way I can keep up to date with the latest news at a low to non existent cost.
It all comes down to this... we may be a society dependent on the media, but media is also dependent on us. We are the consumers, and what the consumers want determines who strives and who falls apart. We want faster, smaller, easier, portable technologies. The companies who utilize these ideas have an obvious advantage. Digital technologies are the wave of the future, they allow us to expand our universe with new music, instant updates and easy access that technologies of the past could never mimic. Times are changing and media is going along for the ride. I for one, am not surprised and cannot wait to become a part of this digitally infused media industry.
OK, thats it for now. Thanks for understanding the whole class assignment deal!
Stay tuned for more music news coming soon!
Rock On,
- Girl At The Rock Show
