數位壓縮音樂檔的使用與滿足--以MP3為例

The Use and Gratification of Digital Compressed Music File Format, a Study of Using MP3

姚政宏(Cheng-Hong Yao)

指導教授 ： 梁朝雲

元智大學/資訊學院/資訊工程學系/碩士(2000年)

摘要

隨著網際網路的日漸普及，網際網路除了成為新興傳播媒體之外，並成為新的行銷管道，亦對許多商業活動帶來許多變革與影響。近幾年來，數位壓縮音訊技術不斷的改進，配合個人電腦的深入家庭，以及上網頻寬的不斷提升，使得數位壓縮音訊成為許多網路使用者聆聽音樂的新方式。在各種不同的數位壓縮音訊格式中，MP3是目前最具影響性的一種格式。由於MP3製作方便，並且在個人電腦上有相當多的播放程式，再加上MP3檔案體積小，可以大量的於網際網路上免費取得，因此有愈來愈多的網路使用者採納MP3的使用，也讓唱片工業開始警覺數位壓縮音訊格式所帶來的問題。
本研究主要是以「使用與滿足理論」作為理論架構依據，希望探討MP3數位壓縮音訊檔案使用者的使用行為、探討使用者使用MP3的動機與其所獲致的滿足，以及使用MP3後，對於使用者聆聽音樂與音樂產品購買行為的影響。本研究採用電子問卷調查法以及深度訪談調查法進行調查，在467份網路問卷以及九人次的訪問結果中發現使用者目前最常使用的音樂媒介為音樂光碟與MP3，擁有的音樂播放設備則以音樂光碟播放器為主。使用者接觸MP3的時間大約在一年以上，主要是透過網路媒體或網站的報導，以及親朋好友的介紹認識MP3。除了大多從網站下載非法MP3檔案之外，親朋好友間的互相交流也是使用者取得MP3的主要來源之一。
在MP3的使用動機上，本研究歸納出四大類，分別是：「網路與MP3特性」、「社會互動」、「尋求音樂資訊」、「媒介使用」。其中「網路與MP3特性」是使用者使用MP3的最主要動機。在使用MP3的滿意度上，使用者則對於「媒介使用」有比較高的評價。在接觸MP3之後，會減少部份使用者音樂產品的購買金額。對於使用者來說，購買音響設備與隨身聽產品時，會因為其需求而有不同的選擇。對於數位壓縮音訊格式未來的發展，使用者認為改善音質是首要的工作，其次則為檔案大小與附加資訊等等功能上的提升。對於唱片工業所在意的防考加密技術，則是使用者最不樂見的技術發展。

關鍵字

使用與滿足 ； 網際網路 ； 數位壓縮音訊

並列摘要

Following with the improvement and universality of Internet, digital technology has become much more essential than ever since. Internet, not just a traditonally defined medium, but has also been used as a new marketing channel, resulting in a number of remarkable influences and progresses to the commercial activities. Recently, owing to the development of digital compressed technology, the popularity of personal computer, and the faster speed of the Internet connection, Internet users are offered a new method to listen to music, which is the digital compressed audio. Among its various formats, MP3 is undoubtedly the most influential one for its several advantages. First of all, it is easy to make MP3 with a support by plenty of applications on PC. Moreover, its small size of file volume can be easilier transmitted in the cyberspace. Above of all, users can always get many a MP3 file for free via Internet. As a consequence, more and more people turn to use MP3 and this tendency has forced the record industry to begin to view it seriously.
Based on ''Uses and Gratification Theory'', this exploratory research studies the MP3 users, and tries to explore their behaviors, motivations, gratification levels of using MP3. Furthermore, the paper will analyze the influence of using MP3 on the users掊abit in listening to music and their purchasing behavior of music product. The methodology of this research adopts the electronic survey over 467 cases through Web and face-to-face interview of 9 users.
In overall, the result of this research indicates that Audio CD and MP3 files are the most popular music media in use and the most common music player is Audio CD player. Most users have got touch with MP3 for over a year. The major source of MP3 information is from the reports on the Internet mediums or web sites for the first time, and also from their kith and kin. In addition to the transmittion of illegal MP3 files over Internet, the exchange and sharing among friends is one of the most important reasons why MP3 spreads so quickly.
In terms of the motivation of using MP3, this research induces four principal factors: characteristic of the Internet and MP3, social interaction, gaining musical information, and the usage of medium. The characteristic of the Internet and MP3 is the most important factor that attracts users to use MP3. However, as for the satisfaction of using MP3, users give better evaluation to the factor of the usage of medium. Turning to the influence of using MP3, through the result of this research, the time spent in (length of) listening to music would be unchanged or longer while the purchasing of musical products would be unchanged or decreased. In the viewpoint of MP3 users, depending on their demands, they would have different choices between purchasing audio equipments and Walkman. Thus, MP3 is more suitable for Walkman products while Audio CD or DVD audio is more suitable for family audio devices.
As for the suggestions to the digital compressed audio file format development in the future, users consider improving the audio quality as the most critical task. The size of the file and the enhancement of functions, such as additional information, are also highly expected. By contrast and yet ironically, what is not anticipated by users is the technology of security and copy-protected of digital compressed audio file that the record industry cares most.

並列關鍵字

MP3 ； Internet ； Digiyal Compressed Audio ； Use and Gratification

參考文獻

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