Tag Archives: Downloading Music

Academic Application!

It’s been a while since I did an Academic Application. They are so 2007 aren’t?

Subject: Microeconomics
Example: Total and Marginal Utility of Downloading and Reviewing Digital Music Albums

# Reviewed Per Week….Total Utility…Marginal Utility
0 ……..0……….0
1 ………9.3…..9.3
2………18.2…8.9
3………25.1…6.9

What’s happening? Total utility is increasing and marginal utility is decreasing. If I listened to a great fourth album, this whole thing would be fucked up because at a certain point I’m supposed to derive zero marginal utility from listening to more than ______ albums. Albums with zero marginal utility or negative marginal utility are essentially nuisances. Even if I illegally download albums for zero cost, the entire process could become a nuisance to me. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to review all the albums that I downloaded. In that case, maybe I will give those albums lower scores because I didn’t bother to completely listen to them. These downloaded albums would become “bads” because they serve no utility to me at all. Also, why should I review a great number of albums if I am not getting paid? Wouldn’t it be most useful to review just one album a week and spend a lot of time examining it?