Entertainment online

Week 8

Entertainment used to be listening to the radio or watching shows on the television. Slowly, cable was introduced and people who could afford cable were watching shows on cable. Occasionally, people would go to the movies and watch blockbusters on the big screen. If you wanted to obtain a piece of music or an album, you walk into the CD shop and get the album of the singer. I fondly remembers buying my first CD from the CD shop and listening to in on my CD player which I brought to school so to not fall asleep on the bus.

Although people still do all the items mentioned above these days, they have another source of entertainment. the awesome Internet. Everything mentioned above can be done on the Internet. We can watch shows on the Internet, listen to radio stations on the Internet, watch movies on the Internet or even listen or watch movie videos on the Internet.

These days, instead of watching show on my television or the cable box that we subscribed from Starhub, I go onto the Internet and find streams of my shows. My grandmother learnt how to use the computer to find Korean dramas to watch when she has nothing to d at home. She has no idea how to operate the television set at home but knows how to use the computer to find shows to watch. Thats how amazing the Internet has become. Sometimes, I would tell her that there is this new Korean drama on TV and she would reply that she finished the whole series on the Internet a while back.

Funshion main webpage 

She uses several software and websites to watch her shows. They are Funshion
, PPS, PPTV and LeTV. Sometimes, she uses her iPad to watch her shows using the application form of those websites and softwares. Recently, she learnt how to download the shows onto her iPad to watch without having to be frustrated by the slow connections.

The Internet is an amazing place. It has evolved from a  place to host documents and information to a place where people can go to for all their entertainment needs. The most amazing part is that the Internet allows for people to gain access to entertainment sources outside of their own countries. By gone are the days where we can only watch what our national channels provide, listen to only what the national radio stations broadcast. Today, we can watch shows from all over the world and listen to music from all over the world. Even, we can find movies that are not showing in our own countries. Take for example, yesterday, I finished a whole series of Japanese anime that was not shown in Singapore on any channels.

The Internet also opens up new sources of music for individuals. Most times, people listen and know only about the songs that they heard on the radio, But with the Internet, people can listen and discover new bands or singers that are not typically played on the local radios. They can also do this with shows and movies as mentioned above.

Main Page of the LoTR chrome experiment 

Besides providing people with the new ways to  watch and be entertained, the Internet also allows for multimedia experiences. Recently, chrome has a new experiment that allows Lord Of The Rings fans to explore the world created by J.R. R. Tolkien. In this experiment, they recreated the map of middle earth and allow users to click on specific areas to learn more about the place. Inside the locations, there are also mini games that the users can play.



This is a good example of how the Internet can create multimedia entertainment experience for its users. Combining games and interaction and information as one to allow the user to have a wholesome experience.

Many users of the Internet are familiar with the Internet's power to make time goes faster. Individuals can just go on the Internet and time seems to fly pass almost too soon. At many a time, we large amount of time looking at funny posts or photos or saying or stuff like that on the Internet just to waste time or to entertain ourselves. A well-known website for these posts is 9gag.com. This website allows people to post random funny pictures or quotes or memes so that other people can look and vote for them. And when they have acquire a certain number of votes, they will move to the 'HOT' page and more people will look at them. I have spent countless hours on this site, just scrolling through and looking at the photos and what not. To me, its a way to de-stress at the end of the day and also to find something funny to laugh at. Besides this site, there are also many other sites available that hosts similar things.

Although the Internet has provided a new place for people to source for entertainment and has created a new form of multimedia entertainment, there are certain drawbacks as well. First, websites that allows for streaming of videos and shows are causing a dent in the pockets of the entertainment industries. People do not watch or pay for cables anymore because they can get it straight on the Internet. The same can be said for music and songs. People do not pay for albums anymore because they can easily download songs for free on the Internet. This has of course caused a huge problem for the entertainment industry whose profits comes mainly from people buying their products. Secondly, being on the Internet can really take away a lot of time. Although the Internet is an entertaining place, sometimes, we can get too ahead of ourselves and spend too much time on it. And this can distract us from other more important things. I occasionally find myself browsing the Internet aimlessly, looking at random things one after another and the next thing I know, a few hours had passed and I did not do anything productive or accomplished anything I wanted to do for that day.

Yes there are many entertaining things on the Internet, however, moderation is key to maintain a healthy relationship between the Internet and our lives.