Napster

While the final verdict on Napster's impact has yet to be rendered, the music file-sharing service is universally recognized for launching peer-to-peer networking into the mainstream. While its foes in the music industry claim that Napster facilitated Internet piracy on a monumental scale, supporters call it a bellwether program that revolutionized music distribution.

College freshman Shawn Fanning began work on what would become the Napster program in his Northeastern University dorm room in January 1999. His roommates, music fans who collected songs in the MP3 computer file format, had complained that Web sites offering MP3s for free download were often clogged by too many users, that they listed files that were no longer available, or that they had been shut down entirely for offering copyrighted music without permission. Fanning set about creating a system that would allow users to swap files directly from one another, without having to go to a Web site. He named the software Napster in tribute to his own nappy hair. When he finished the first version of the program, he shared it with some friends, and it quickly became apparent to Fanning that his software had tremendous potential. He dropped out of college, formed Napster, Inc., and with the help of others released an early version of the software in the summer of 1999.

Users who launched the program while connected to the Internet were plugged into Napster's central computer system, and the MP3 files they had designated to share were added to Napster's continuously updated index of files available at that moment. Napster, it should be noted, did not store MP3s, but only indexed files that were stored on its users' own computers. If users turned off their computers or otherwise disconnected from Napster, their files were no longer available, and were removed from the index. A user searching for a particular song typed the song title or artist's name into Napster's search engine, and a list of results would be returned from the index showing matching files held by other Napster users. By selecting one of the files, the user would begin downloading it directly from another user's computer.

Word-of-mouth endorsements and media coverage helped ensure Napster's quick adoption in the online music community, particularly on college campuses with speedy Internet connections. Many industry observers heralded the program as the most important Internet development since the Web browser.

The music industry, which had been steadily losing ground in its fight to halt unauthorized MP3 trading, saw Napster as a formidable threat. A Web site that offered MP3s to millions of downloaders without the permission of the artist or the music label could still potentially be tracked and closed through court action; stopping individual users from swapping single files among themselves was a much more difficult task. In December 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade group representing the major music companies, sued Napster, Inc., charging that the company facilitated piracy.

Napster's ease of use, coupled with its outlaw status as a source of free music under fire, captured the popular imagination. An estimated 50 million people had signed up to use the program 18 months after its release. Artists chose sides in the debate: Hard-rock band Metallica and rapper Dr. Dre filed their own piracy suits against the company, while rapper Chuck D defended Napster and rap-metal band Limp Bizkit embraced the company as a sponsor.

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