| Napster is the ingenious program created by 18 year old Shawn Fanning that allows users to download songs off each other. Napster allows its users to swap files from a PC to another, without having to go through a central server. The success of Napster is due to it’s simple nature. Log on, download, then play song. It’s that simple. The way Napster works is the software allows users to log onto Napster’s server. The server hooks the user to any other user that has the particular song that is wanted. The great thing about Napster is it’s free, it’s user friendly, and very popular meaning that there is more of a variety of songs.
Shawn Fanning, the creator of Napster, toiled for 3 months straight in order to finish his program. When the idea hit him, he went through all matters in order to finish it. He blocked off all distractions, family, friends, financing, almost food just to finish as soon as possible. He felt that if could think of it, many other people would have thought of it and would be working on it feverishly to finish it first. So it became a feverish race for Shawn Fanning. He dropped school in order to fully focus on his program. He believed his program would become a success because of the simplicity of his idea: a program that would allow computer users to swap music files with one another directly, without having to go through a centralized file server. This was a great alternative to downloading off the net, as to hearing so many complaints about how frustrating it was to try to find good music on the web. But Fanning figured out that if he combined a music-search function with a file-sharing system and to facilitate communication, an instant messaging system, he could bypass the bunch of legal and technical problems that kept great music from exploding all over the World Wide Web.
Shawn worked feverishly to complete his program quickly. Once the idea popped into his head, he couldn’t get rid of it. He taught himself Unix programming along with Windows programming. He was determined to write his program. He figured that all he had to do was combine the features of existing programs like the instant messaging system, the file sharing functions of Microsoft Windows and the advanced search capabilities of various search engines. He reasoned that if his program included all these features, it would be a big success. Without the help of anyone, Fanning managed to complete the program in 3 months. His IRC chat buddies did not believe in him, reasoning that an inarticulate 18 year old could not create such a great program. Because of his drop off in school, he did not even have the support of his parents. Shawn strived to unleash the potential of the Web and the viral growth possibilities of the community. To break the barriers and transform the limited assumptions about business, content and culture.
Napster has become a success, it has changed the world and the way we think. It has forced record companies to rethink their business models and forced record company lawyers and music artists to defend their intellectual property. On behalf of five media companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued Napster, claiming the website and Fanning’s program are facilitating the theft of intellectual property. But putting aside legal issues, Fanning’s program is the biggest success. His program already ranks among the greatest Internet applications ever made. It is the fastest growing application being used in history, just passing the 25 million mark in less than a year. But most important of all, Napster has all the pros of a web application, it builds community, breaks down barriers, is viral, scalable and disintermediates.
Ever since it’s release, legal issues have been eating away at Napster. In this year, Metallica along with Dr. Dre has sued Napster. Metallica has also sued 3 schools and claimed that they were contributing to copyright infringement. It has been reported that Napster is being banned by over 34% of US colleges. Napster has been causing headaches for network administrators, and to free bandwidth space, some colleges have banned Napster. Schools must consider that copyright infringement is illegal, but they must also consider the First Amendment and privacy issues for students. The issues of piracy and intellectual property are being dealt with as we speak. Napster will be taken to Supreme Court and there will be Napster’s final ruling.
The definition of "democracy" is government by the people. In other words, the government is for the best interest of the people. I believe that Napster is for the good of the people. Through Napster, people build community and can easily obtain different cultural knowledge. To the majority of the people, this is fair. To the artists and large record companies, it is not. These are the only groups of people that would heavily suffer. Because of Napster, artists and record companies have been forced to rethink their business propositions. Piracy is a big issue concerning Napster. But nevertheless, Napster could become very useful and influential for our children. Our first amendment should cover the legal issues concerning Napster.
Bibliography
1. George A. Chidi Jr., Report: Napster banned at 34 percent of U.S. colleges, (CNN, August 31, 2000, http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/31/naspter.college.idg/index.html)
2. KARL TARO, Meet the Napster, (Time Magazine, October 2, 2000, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,55730,00.html)
3. Theresa Riley, Napster’s Strange Bedfellows Include Metallica and Yale University, (Time Magazine, Thursday, Apr. 20, 2000, http://www.time.com/time/digital/daily/0,2822,43379,00.html.)
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