The Evolution of Music Technology There are many ways to record and produce music in the world today. It hasn't always been this way. People for a long time had no means of recording. With the invention of electricity logging became more readily available. With the invention of the cassette player, MIDI, auto-tune, and MP3s, the music industry would not be in the position it is now without these things. Digital tape recorders have made a huge difference in the music industry. In her article "Now, Digital Records" Ann Livermore talks about digital recording: “The difference between conventional and digital recording is the production process. Conventional discs are copies of recordings originally made on magnetic tape. After a recording session, a "master tape" is reworked in the studio until it comes close to what engineers, producers and artists conceive as the true sound” (Livermore). This describes how conventional process and digital recordings are made. Thanks to the progress and discoveries made on magnetic tape, the music industry was able to exist. He goes on to say, “This final “cut” is then transferred to a record which becomes the master from which the standard vinyl record is pressed. But the tape itself is an imperfect copy of the sound waves, not an accurate reproduction of them - and when they are converted into electronic pulses, and then returned to sound with the help of amplifiers and speakers, the quality is lost in translation” (Livermore) . This gap in translation is a major part of the sound quality that occurs and has made the quality of a tape poor. The tapes are then converted, this is the process. “Discs made from such tapes distort the sound at the high and low ends of the range… in the middle of the paper… on a CD you can now store thirteen hours of mp3 files compared to traditional digital audio only allows seventy-four minutes . MP3 files not only provide an efficient means of storing audio information but also of transmitting it. This is where most of the discussion about mp3s focuses. Before a court order shut down online music distributor Napster in 2001, MP3 users were able to traffic and trade favorite songs, artists and genres with other users with previously unknown speed and ease. The intervention of the music industry, however, attempted to stop this activity, citing copyright infringement as the legal reason” (GÜNDÜZ). As previously stated, the music industry has impacted and evolved over time. The influences of digital recorder, MIDI, autotune and MP3 in the world of music would be totally different.