1 . Streaming Music

Nowadays, many music fans listen to songs not from records or CDS but directly on the Internet. This is called streaming, and it allows people to listen to what seems like an infinite variety of songs.     1    

The largest music-streaming website, Spotify, began in Sweden in 2008. It spread to other countries as major music labels(唱片公司)agreed to let Spotify users stream their songs. In return, Spotify gives the labels some of its profits.

    2     They can search for songs by artist or title. They can play entire albums, create playlists or listen to playlists from other users.

Many streaming services allow people to sign up for free accounts.     3     For example, you might not be able to choose every song you listen to. Or you can only skip a certain number of songs per hour. And the listening experience will likely be interrupted by advertisements.     4    

There are some disadvantages to music-streaming services. For one thing, people are only renting music, not buying it. This means if they stop their subscription to the service, they lose access to the music.     5     If users want to support their favorite artist financially, they’re better off just buying an album. On the other hand, streaming makes it easier to discover new music and enjoy a wide variety of songs.

Streaming is convenient and inexpensive, and it offers a huge selection of songs to listen to. It is likely to grow more popular and may even develop new services for users to enjoy.