For many Americans, the past decade of technological advances has brought information to their fingertips instantaneously. Open a single program and an endless music library is ripe for the listening.

            It all started during the dot-com era with giving avid music listeners the ability to search a collection of music libraries. The file-sharing craze has been growing ever since the rise of Napster and other file sharing services like it.

             Over the years, the Recording Industry Association of America has accused 18,000 Internet users of engaging in illegal file sharing. Most of the cases have been settled out of court.

            Quite frankly, there isn’t any way to stop illegal file sharing.

            The lawsuits continue to make the music industry look rather childish. It paints music industry executives as only concerned with making money instead of promoting their talent.

            The rise of the Internet has given widespread access to music, and society is more focused around computers. The industry could have been the first to pioneer online transactions and get compensated for every download, but it chose not to.

            In two cases recently brought to court about file sharing, the defendants were a single mother and a student. Both lost and were ordered to pay damages of $1.92 million and $675,000, respectively.

            But the industry surely realizes that such cases egg on the publication of embarrassing headlines more than they discourage illegal music downloading, which is the main aim of prosecuting. It actually winds up making the music industry look worse then actually being proactive about file sharing, mainly because file sharing is very prevalent in today’s world.

            Many within the industry, including artists, have voiced concerns over the issue of being compensated for their work. In 2001, CD sales were 762.8 million sold, compared to 2005, when sales were at 618.9 million sold. The difference is evident. However, at the same time, digital music sales were 352.7 million in 2005.

            The digital category wasn’t even counted in 2001 and the avenue of digital sales could have opened new revenues per stream, given the amount of downloads. True, revenue from these services will be less than from CD sales, but it is much better than nothing.

            The music industry may have to get smaller. Right now, it is in a similar situation to the newspaper industry. Newspapers have long battled the question of whether or not to charge online readers for access. Now both are suffering due to a lack of action.

            The Internet could have been used to gain support for artists on tour, which is where a bulk of the record industry’s revenue is generated. File sharing allows for the best marketing tool: word of mouth. Such popularity for artists can bring more fans to concerts.

            A Fox News poll on the price of music downloads showed that 71 percent of Americans feel that a 99 cent download is a fair or bargain price for music. Apple has capitalized on this sentiment as it debuted its iTunes store in 2003, charging anywhere from 39 cents to $1.29.

            Apple has sold over 8.5 billion songs through legal file sharing. The music industry should have pushed harder for services such as Pandora and Spotify, who stream free tracks with minimal commercial interruptions, to charge for the music they provide. They missed a great opportunity to help continue and grow their business of the future.

            Sadly, the music industry has taken several hits because of file sharing. There is no way to ever kill illegal file sharing as it stands today. The best option would to be bringing about some form of regulation to sharing and not circumvent the music industry as a whole.

            But it might be too late.