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Article Series: Napster
Napster FAQ & How-To's
The
History & Origins of Napster
The Napster of today is not the same Napster
that we knew yesterday. That is, if you remember the Napster
of a few years ago, you will probably remember the
millions of college students who made it one of the most popular
sites
in the history of the Internet. You will probably also recall
that the Napster of then was also embroiled in a massive controversy
that lasted several years before the dust would eventually
settle. Here is a short glimpse into the origins of Napster,
in case you are not already familiar with the story.
A 19-year-old college student named Shawn
Fanning infamously
created the original Napster. The seemingly unassuming Fanning
was a student at Northeastern University when he and a friend,
Sean Parker released the first version of Napster in June of
1999. Fanning saw a need on the Internet for a space where
people could search and share files. He knew that most people
had lots of files on their computer’s hard drives that were
going unused. Why not share these files with other users who
might enjoy them or otherwise find some use for them? At that
time, search engines like IRC or Lycos were the Internet user’s
best bet if he or she wanted to find files of any kind. John
Fanning of Hull Massachusetts, Shawn’s uncle, decided to help
his nephew out. He made struck a deal with the younger Fanning
that would help him start up Napster. Shawn Fanning agreed
to take control of roughly 30 percent of the new company, while
his uncle would take control of the rest.
Although the first official version of Napster was not launched
until June of 1999, the company was already starting to develop
in September of 1997. At that time, the Fanning team began
to put together an executive team and take up residence in
San Mateo, California. Napster was a trailblazer in the hugely
popular peer-to-peer file sharing system format that would
soon become widely used by other Internet sites. However, most
people do not realize that Napster was never a fully functioning
peer-to-peer file sharing system. That is, many people have
a misperception about the way that Napster operated most of
the time. Napster did not take part in peer-to-peer file sharing
directly. Rather, Napster maintained its own central servers
that contained lists of all the connected system and files
that were being transmitted between millions of different computers.
So essentially, Napster was merely holder of a huge directory.
The actual peer-to-peer transactions were taking place in computers
outside the Napster offices. Although peer-to-peer file sharing
was nothing new, Napster was the first site to use that kind
of system in a specialized form. In the case of Napster, they
specialized in facilitating the peer-to-peer file sharing of
music MP3 files in a fun and user-friendly interface. The Napster
site grew so popular, that it was possible to locate even the
most obscure music file using its user-friendly interface.
Many music fans regarded Napster as a kind of music search
engine. Fans of the original Napster used the site to browse
the music and files, upload their own files, and swap music
files with other users by uploading and downloading.
However, the ‘glory days’ of fun and free music downloading
were coming to their inevitable end. Several high profile music
acts, most notably Metallica, filed lawsuits against Napster
for copyright infringement. The major record labels also began
to crack down on Napster, and after a protracted legal battle
the site would eventually be shut down. Years later, after
being bought by Roxio, it would reemerge as a popular digital
music service.
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SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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