In mid-1999, 19 year old Northeastern University student Shawn Fanning designed a computer program that allowed one to log on to a central server, and be able to download mp3 music files from another computer at lightning speed, with great ease. He called this program Napster, after his old high school nickname. Since it’s inception, Napster has sparked court cases involving every major record company in North America, and created a worldwide debate about copyright infringement and it’s effects on the music industry.
Napster is a peer to peer file-sharing program designed specifically for the exchange of MPEG 1 Layer 3,also known as MP3, digital audio files. These files are super-compressed audio that would normally be more than ten times larger than they are as MP3s. This is because MP3s special coding cuts down on file size while maintaining nearly all noticeable sound quality. Because of this people use MP3s to record songs and store them on their computers. They can be played using many different pieces of audio software available such as Nullsoft’s Winamp and Microsoft Windows Media Player.
Napster is designed to facilitate the easy searching and xchanging of MP3 files by allowing users to search for specific songs or artists and displaying a list of those songs available through other Napster users. This is great for users who want to enjoy free music but the record companies aren’t quite as happy about this. They are concerned that Napster steals money from them and the artists that they represent. This is because if Napster users get songs for free from other users, they won’t be paying the record companies for CDs. Luckily for the record companies, there are laws in place to protect interests such as theirs.
These laws are called copyright laws. They prevent people from using, distributing, or selling things that are not theirs. By having music that one did not buy on a CD, or distributing music through programs such as Napster, one is committing copyright infringement. The record companies are so angry about all of this that they have decided to take it to court. Since they can not sue all of the thousands and thousands of Napster users who are committing copyright infringement, they have decided to sue Napster itself instead. This would effectively eliminate the source of the problem as most MP3 exchange today is done through Napster.
The problem is that Napster is never actually committing copyright infringement, as Napster is never actually in possession of illegal MP3 files. They are never stored in, nor do they travel through Napster’s server. The server merely record the name and location of the files and routes users together in order to exchange files. Once the users have been connected the file is transferred directly from one user to another and the Napster server is no longer involved. Because of this design, the record companies have decided to accuse Napster of facilitating copyright infringement.
This eans that they did not actually steal any music but they help user do so. Right now the case is still going on. In early August, the courts decided that Napster must shut down its server, effectively cutting off all of its users. This was handed down in the form of an injunction. Shortly after, the decision was appealed and the case continued. Napster went back online, and the court case is continued. Recently Bertelsmann, owner of BMG Records, dropped its part of the suit and settled out of court with Napster. Some individual bands have also decided to act against Napster, but in a different way.
Metallica, a band widely known as the most popular heavy metal band today, hired a consulting firm to record the username and IP addresses of users who had illegally shared or downloaded their songs over a period of days. They delivered the list of hundreds of thousands of users to Napster headquarters and demanded that these users be kicked off of the service. They were. Other musicians such as rap superstar and forefather Dr. Dre have followed suit. Many users who were kicked off have become very angry and Metallica has received a lot of negative media attention as a result of their actions.
Other bands, on the ther hand, see Napster as an easier way to new bands to get heard, a way to take away some of the power from the strangle holds of a few giant media conglomerates that control the music industry, and as the new wave in music distribution. Either way, one thing is for sure: MP3s, the Internet, and Napster has and will continue to seriously change the way that recorded music is 1. Napster is downloaded and installed on a personal computer. It is available as a completely free download from http://www. napster. com. It is now available to users of all recent versions of either Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS.
The only other requirement is a connection to the Internet. A faster Internet connection is beneficial because the faster the connection, the faster 2. The software enables the PC to log on to Napster’s server. The server is the center of the Napster service. It keeps virtual “libraries” of the songs that each Napster user has. Whenever a user logs in, their computer reports to the server what songs they are sharing in these libraries. When a search is made, the server checks its database for any other Napster users who are online and have the file that the searcher is looking for.
A search can be made using the criteria of title 3. If the server finds a match, Napster puts the computer that has the file directly in touch with the computer that wants it, and the file is downloaded from one to the other. Each computer on the Internet has an address. This is called an IP address. Depending on the type of service that one uses to connect to the Internet, IP addresses can either be static or dynamic. Static IP addresses are always the same while dynamic IP addresses change every time that the user connects to the internet.
Cable modems use static IP addresses while telephone, Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) use dynamic IP addresses. There are pros and cons to each system. The main criticism of static IP addresses is that hackers can get a user’s IP address and take as long as they need to in order to work on breaking into their system. Hackers can not do that if one’s IP address changes every time that they connect. Providers of static IP address services use firewalls in order to help prevent such unwanted tampering by hackers. Firewalls are available in two forms, hardware and software.
Hardware firewalls are separate devices that attach to a personal computer, a network, or a server. Software firewalls are pieces of software in a PC or network server. Both types of firewalls perform the same function. They monitor information between a user and the Internet. They are programmed to detect and eliminate any unwanted exchanges of information from occurring, such as a hacker attempting to infiltrate a user’s The Arguments: Napster, the Record Companies, the Artists Artists whose music is shared on the Napster network are very divided on the issue of whether the service is to be shut down.
Several artists have taken very prominent stances for or against the program. While some have brought forth legal proceedings against the company, others have embraced it and openly admit its benefits. In May 2000, Lars Ulrich, drummer from the rock band Metallica, delivered a list of 317,377 names of Napster users names to the company who were later banned, as he demanded that Napster restrict access to the band’s music. The site subsequently banned 230,142 users who downloaded mp3’s of rapper Dr. Dre.
Metallica and Dr. Dre later filed identical copyright infringement lawsuits against Napster. Later, in July, Ulrich took the case up a notch before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying hat Congress needs to pass new laws to protect copyrighted music against Napster and other Then, in September, Howard King, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Metallica and Dr. Dre, sent letters earlier this month to about a dozen prominent educational institutions asking campus administrators to restrict access to Napster.
Duke University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently rejected these requests to halt the use of Napster. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) also has declined to impose a ban. On the opposing side, Yale University , University Of Indiana, and the University of Southern California decided to implement the ban. These requests, as well as the actual suit, were still unresolved at the time of writing this essay.
Alternately, there are several artists that have embraced the technology. The Offspring originally had some problems with the company, as they used the Napster logo on merchandise without the company’s permission. However, they have since reached an agreement and continue to sell the merchandise and support all of Napster’s efforts to remain functional. The funds from the merchandise are going to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
