Is Music Bad for Your Net?

By Sushuma February 17, 2000 10:34 AM

(IDG)-As more Internet users tune in to music-oriented Web sites, corporate network managers are starting to see bandwidth problems caused by downloading and sharing of oversized music files.?Of particular concern is Napster.com, a controversial music file-sharing and chat site that is such a bandwidth hog it has prompted several universities to block access in recent weeks.?Other problematic sites include CDNow.com, an online retailer that lets users sample songs before buying music, and internetradio.com, which features links to dozens of streaming audio formats.?"About 8% of our network bandwidth is going to all the music sites," says Jeff Uslan, manager of information protection at Twentieth Century Fox, which uses Elron Software's CommandView Internet Manager to monitor employee Internet usage.?Uslan says he's seen heavy traffic to the Spinner.com online music community and RealNetworks' site for downloading audio players.?While he isn't blocking music sites yet, Uslan says he chastised one employee for hogging bandwidth while listening to Internet radio on her desktop.?"It would be cheaper for us to go out and buy radios for all our employees than to increase our bandwidth for these sites," Uslan says.?Read more ...