Technology is changing the way music is distributed enabling the downloading and sharing of tracks.
MP3 technology which can compress music files without ruining sound quality means internet users can now download and store tracks on hard drives without using too much space.
The internet is now set to have an even greater impact on how we buy and listen to music with the merger of EMI and Warner.
Ray Oglethorpe, AOL technologies, sees a future of music on the internet that allows users to customise what and how they listen to music.
Whole new ways of getting music, hearing music, delivering music and cataloguing music but it will be what the consumer wants first.
Fans can now visit music websites such as emusic.com or mp3.com, click on the tracks they want, and play them using software freely available online. A portable MP3 player allows the user to download tracks from a computer hard drive to a small memory card. The player allows the user to listen to music anywhere.
Stephen Cawley, PC Live, says there are a few catches to this technology. The cost of MP3 players is quite expensive. A player with 32 MB of storage can cost £250 while compact flash cards are also very expensive.
Mini discs, CDs and even vinyls aren't quite dead yet.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 24 January 2000. The reporter is Annabel Egan.
