It's been more than five years since Shawn Fanning released the infamous Napster software and unleashed the "download heard round the world." Since then, record companies have constantly used high-priced legal teams in a feeble attempt to put the horse back in the barn. For four years, the sales of CDs in the United States. dropped and the record companies blamed their recession on the pirates of the digital media age, but music downloading is not necessarily the cause of their dilemma.
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The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) reports that pirate CD sales hit an all-time high in 2004. However, this was also the year in which the trend finally reversed and the sales of CDs actually rose. This rise was not due to a new breed of super lawyer, but rather because record companies have finally caught up to 1999 and began competing online.
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If record companies have anyone to thank for this new boost in prestige (and cash), it is Apple Computer, Inc. In 2003, Apple worked with the record companies to release the successful iTunes service. Apple calmed record companies' fears about online sales and worked to provide a copy-protection scheme that is reasonable for both the buyers and sellers of music. Finally, the record companies have begun to compete with the services of peer-2-peer software such as Napster by offering their music library in the iTunes store. 