Over the years, the recording industry has introduced a variety of mediums for the storage and enjoyment of recorded sound. Vinyl records, 8 track tapes, cassettes, and finally CDs Each of these were different in their shape, packaging, abilities, and formats; but they were similar in their requirement of dedicated technologies, and their creation motive of making it more difficult for the consumer to duplicate the recordings. Then came the 21st century. With the new century, came new formats. The recording industry fatally hesitated, and lost all control. The compact nature of such files lent itself to easily storing (and more damagingly) sharing across the communication highway known as the internet. Early on, we saw the rise of peer to peer networks like Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire. Again, the recording industry’s immediate response was belligerent and a huge misjudgement of this new technology’s ability to evolve. Today, we see file hosting websites that bypass the more open and therefore vulnerable style of network. Rapidshare is perhaps the most popular of the three largest sites. It boasts user counts in the hundreds of millions. And it is located outside of the United States making copyright infringement lawsuits all but impossible. Located in Hong Kong, Megaupload utilizes the same sort of technology. A recent page view count was close to a billion, with users numbering close to 40 million. Both of these websites though suffer from download limitations, waiting times, rumored collaboration with authorities and presence of spyware. Mediafire, located in Dallas, Texas is the newest of the three, and due to its ability to circumvent the criticisms leveled at the previous two, it has continued to gain in popularity. Recent page views numbered close to 450 million, with user counts at 29 million. While there are those that would still argue the legality of online file sharing, the stark reality is that it exists. While the music industry continues to stall and hemorrhage money, bands that would have gone unheard ten years ago now grace major magazine covers and win Grammy awards. To that, I say “YO HO HO!”