Paying for music isn't dead: The Web is giving it new life. We've compiled some ways that the Internet is changing music for the better.

The music industry has been in a state of flux for awhile now. It feels like the moment Napster debuted, the entire market turned on a dime and has been grappling with the constant change every since. P2P download sites, iTunes, and the near-death of CDs has not been kind to music’s profitability – but there is hope.

The Internet may have been too big a game-changer for the industry to immediately adapt to, but now it’s shaping and creating new avenues for music to explore. And better yet – new ways to profit.

Music discovery applications

One of the best parts of the changing state of music is that music discovery sites have become hugely popular. We can remember the frustration of buying an entire CD only to be stuck with 10 songs you have no intention of listening to (and which the artists knew full well wouldn’t see the light of day). You would just get stuck in a rut, listening to the same artists churn out the same music, only a fraction of which you liked.

And then sites like Pandora came along, and in its wake sites like MOG, Last.fm, and Grooveshark. They aren’t catch-alls, and every so often you’re bound to be annoyed by the ratio of hits to misses. But they could replace radio (which is losing listeners) as a jumping off point for new artists, and an introduction to new hits for more veteran acts. All while including advertising possibilities and pricing options.

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With entry-level DSLRs, Canon has long walked a path of gradual development. When a new model pops out of the factory, the model it replaces stays in the catalogue but is sold at a lower price. It’s smart marketing.

It’s a nice, logical spread of products, more so than Nikon’s 3 models and two sensor sizes. As I said: smart marketing. Predictably, the 550D borrows much from the 500D it one-ups. And just as predictably, it fires a second torpedo across the bow of the good ship Nikon whose D90 has reigned supreme in the <$1,000 DSLR market for 18 months. The first one was the 500D, and it didn’t really connect.

What Canon did was to reach into the parts bin and put the 18mp sensor from its semi-pro 7D (with a couple of corners cut) into an entry-level body. Other features that come with the 7D sensor is an ISO range of 100 – 6400, 14-bit image processing for smoother tonal gradation and advanced iFCL exposure metering with 63-zone dual-layer sensor. And the cherry on the grapefruit: full HD video recording with selectable frame rates, manual control and support for an external stereo microphone.

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