History of Napster

	Revision 15 . . (edit) September 29, 2001 12:09 am by Zundark [Mp3 -> MP3]
	Revision 14 . . (edit) July 30, 2001 5:46 pm by Sandos
	Revision 3 . . March 3, 2001 4:03 pm by JimboWales [Updated with some words about OpenNAP.]

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Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 1c1

Napster is a music and file sharing service that burst onto the Internet scene in a major way during the year 2000. Their technology allowed music fans to easily share MP3 format song files with each other, thus leading to massive copyright violations.

Napster is a music and file sharing service, created by [Shawn Fanning]?, that burst onto the [Internet scene]? in a major way during the year 2000. Their technology allowed music fans to easily share MP3 format song files with each other, thus leading to massive copyright violations.

Changed: 5c5

Napster's technology requires the use of their central servers, which undoubtably made them a convenient legal target. It is unclear whether fully peer to peer (no central server) systems such as Gnutella will be on the availability of free music sharing on the Internet. Surely if Gnutella develops into a viable (and free alternative), but with no central server to take the legal heat, Napster's proposed business model (paid access) will fail.

Napster's technology requires the use of their central servers, which undoubtedly made them a convenient legal target. It is unclear what the effect of fully peer to peer systems (systems with no central server) such as Gnutella or Audiogalaxy will be on the availability of free music sharing on the internet. If Gnutella or Audiogalaxy develops into a viable (and free) alternative, but with no central server to take the legal heat, Napster's proposed business model (paid access) might fail.

Changed: 7c7,10

Another potential competitor or successor to Napster is OpenNAP. Since most existing Napster clients can select what server they connect to, and since there is a free software clone of Napster server, anyone on the Internet can theoretically open up a small competitor or successor to Napster. If this is true, then the death of Napster might only mean a temporary slowdown in the growth of filesharing.

Another potential competitor or successor to Napster is OpenNAP. Since most existing Napster clients can select what server they connect to, and since there is a free software clone of Napster server, anyone on the Internet can theoretically open up a small competitor or successor to Napster. If this is true, then any future death of Napster might only mean a temporary slowdown in the growth of filesharing. /Talk?