Finale is a software program that I use regularly to compose music. Finale is an absolutely wonderful program. Without it, it would take me months to years to compose ten minutes of music. With this software I am able to create new music and hear it played back to me instantly. Finale removes the need for a live ensemble to read your music in order to listen and make edits. All of this to say, Finale could definitely use some improvements. Firstly, it is extremely expensive, thus limiting its already minuscule accessibility. One license to use finale is $600 for non student buyers. If the price were reduced, more people would have access to this software and be able to create more. Another issue with Finale is its huge learning curve. As someone who taught themselves to use the program, I can say with certainty that it takes multiple months or even years to fully understand what all the program is capable of, as well as how to access simple functions. For example. when a piece of music is loaded, the user sees a blank page with lines, a little note tool bar on the side, and a few symbols at the top. This is obviously intimidating to a new user. I believe a more comprehensive tutorial, as well as a list of all the most common short cuts, would greatly improve the beginner user experience with this program.

It is difficult for me to think of one singular piece of technology that has become obsolete. So many technologies that I grew up with have been thrown aside and forgotten. The first technology that popped into my head when I thought about obsolete technology was the VCR. I remember growing up and watching movies on VCRs. I remember having to rewind them when you were done, the gray static lines that would race across the screen when paused, and the slight mechanical hum that would come out through the VCR player. This technology became obsolete due to advancements in other technologies that displayed video, such as the DVD and Blu-Ray. I believe that improvement is inevitable and innovation and change will always be rampant in our society. This is not a bad thing. We as people love to cling to our nostalgia and the memory of how things were, but if it weren’t for advancements we’d still be watching movies in 240p. VCR couldn’t have survived in today’s culture. If VCR were the only option to watch videos at home, people would be streaming movies from computers or tablets or phones. The market simply would not support a sub par version of something else we have.

Digital media is monetized in many different ways, such as direct sponsorship (such as my example video), or product placement, or any other method in which a form of media can be used to generate ad revenue. In this video, a video game publishing company asked for the Slow Mo Guys channel to record a slowmo video in which they have an animal from the game crush a watermelon. This strategy causes the viewer to think about the animal and how it relates to the game. This could potentially increase a viewers interest in a product.