Music, television, movies, books, comic books and art are all
readily accessible online, and consuming such media makes up a
large proportion of a young person's Internet time. There are a
number of different ways that users can access online media,
including streaming and downloading.
Streaming
Streaming media is when a media file isn't saved to your
computer, but it plays on a website. YouTube is one example. LastFM
markets itself as a personalised radio station, allowing users to
search and play music they like, find new music and create
playlists to play songs randomly or in a pre-chosen order. ABC and
SBS are increasingly hosting their TV and radio content online, as
are overseas channels such as BBC and the US-based Comedy Central,
although these may not be available from Australia. Scans of art,
books, journals and comics are also freely available for viewing in
many places, such as Project Gutenberg or the Baen Free Library.
Many art galleries, including the National Gallery of Australia
host previews of exhibits and scans of art journals on their
sites.
Downloading
Media can also be downloaded and saved to be enjoyed later,
including on mp3 players (portable music players) like iPods, and
e-readers like Kindles. Some of these are legal ways of purchasing
media, such as buying music, television shows and e-books through
iTunes or Amazon. Some are free due to expired copyright, such as
the novels available at Project Gutenberg. Some, the copyright
holder has made available for free, such as through Baen Free
Library. Some music albums, such as Radiohead's In Rainbows, are
pay as you want, or free for a limited time, or free in order to
boost listens and therefore later sales.
Media can also be downloaded illegally, where copyrighted
material is copied, posted online and downloaded without the
permission of the copyright holder. This is very common, and young
people may not know that it is illegal or consider it at all risky,
even though most file sharing programs require users to agree to
uphold copyright restrictions before they sign up. One common way
is through peer to peer (P2P) programs that allow a user to connect
to other users online with media they want, and download fragments
of that media from many different users at once, which shares the
traffic, responsibility and cost of hosting. Illegally downloaded
content can also be re-uploaded to other sites, such as to YouTube.
If copyright holders, such as the network responsible for a
television show, notice their content and complain to the host
site, then the user can have their upload deleted (common), can be
banned from that site (usually after a few warnings) or prosecuted
(usually only for "leaking" or uploading content ahead of its
release date).