While Courtney pulled an Albini, Jeff handed out the bread. Are the peasants acting like emperors, or do they still want something shiny, aluminum, plastic, and digital? Debacle or cage, something's got to give (pdf). Alternatively, you can just roll your own.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Feb 4, 2007 - 32 comments

Remember Napster? Well, it's returned to its roots and is once again offering free music via a revamped ad based web-site. But according to their FAQ, you can only listen to any given song up to 5 times before you'll be asked to pay for it. Even though this equates to roughly 10 million free plays, in an age where BitTorrent is king, will this pay off for the company? Some say no, as the catches that come with this new system are just too many. But (for the moment at least) the share market is saying yes.
posted by Effigy2000 on May 1, 2006 - 38 comments

How To Hack the New Napster. Back in the day Shawn Fannings little dealie brought the world of free file sharing to the mainstream, now with the aid of Winamp and a few clever configurations, one can relive the past. via stereogum
posted by tsarfan on Feb 16, 2005 - 60 comments

We all knew the day would come, the time to put the "you" in P2P: Buy your own piece of Napster at their bankruptcy auction. December 11th, live and webcast, their impressive set of top o' the line (for 2001) equipment is up for grabs.
posted by mathowie on Nov 19, 2002 - 9 comments

Kazaa to RIAA; "Catch us if you can!" Although I was initially skeptical, it seems as though Kazaa's decentralized system is proving to be a problem for the RIAA. With Napster, it seemed like they caved almost immediately. What I'm wondering is, does Kazaa actually have a change at establishing some sort of favourable ruling concerning file-trading / P2P? I know it's probably too early to tell, but speculation makes for great conversation some times.
posted by Dark Messiah on Sep 25, 2002 - 15 comments

Napster files for bankruptcy - The pioneer finally gives up the ghost. *sob*
posted by wibbler on Jun 3, 2002 - 6 comments

Intel Likes the Napster Way (Wired Article). So, we've had Napster, and its counterparts, and we've had all sorts of cheerleading for P2P. P2P has taken off in a big way in the way of IMing, and in a smaller way via projects like SETI@home. Now there's a major corp using it for internal practices in a big way. Are any of you seeing any interesting uses of P2P where you work?
posted by badstone on Oct 31, 2001 - 4 comments

The War Against MP3? Hilary Rosen, everyone's favourite defender of record company hegemony, outlines her new strategy ("Help me help you.") in an email leaked to FuckedCompany. Interestingly, it's aimed at beating the dastardly hackers at their own game, with tactics such as "Spoofing and/or interdiction methods for existing peer to peers". Signs of desparation on the part of the RIAA, or should people be making the most of the second-generation Napster clones while they have a chance?
posted by holgate on Oct 3, 2001 - 34 comments

Napster refuses to die, promises viable business model which you can now download for free. Someone tell these people that the dot-com "I've got no way of paying you anything other than stock options" boom is over. If I have to pay for the service of downloading software from a central server, the P2P model is useless. Morons.
posted by rev- on Aug 22, 2001 - 3 comments

Goose-killers suddenly notice absence of golden eggs? With Napster neutralised, the distributed alternatives thriving, and their commercial schemes mired in technological and political difficulties, many record industry execs are quietly wishing they'd done things differently. Should we regret the lost opportunity, or celebrate it as a self-inflicted step towards breaking the stranglehold of the major labels?
posted by holgate on Jul 23, 2001 - 19 comments

What is being shared on Napster and company? Let's just say p2p isn't helping to promote your garage band like some would claim.
posted by bonzo on Jun 10, 2001 - 13 comments

Charley Pride's Copy-protected CD hacked -- or is it? Apparently, the people involved in trying to keep the CD off Napster failed to realize they are dealing with the World Wide Web.
posted by Hankins on May 16, 2001 - 6 comments

Could this be the straw that breaks the Camels back.
posted by monkeyJuice on May 8, 2001 - 13 comments

If you are downloading from Napster or some other service, the RIAA is tracking you. Here's a screenshot of the Recording Industry's secret weapon.
posted by andre_111 on Mar 23, 2001 - 17 comments

Disney's Michael Eisner on what to do about all those kids who use Napster: Arrest and prosecute the little SOBs. I know I'd sleep better at night knowing that those devious conspiratorial 11-year-olds were behind bars. [second item]
posted by aaron on Mar 16, 2001 - 15 comments

CD Sales down by 39%? And guess who's to blame. (Also linked in the article is the interesting stopnapster.com site.)
posted by gi_wrighty on Feb 26, 2001 - 43 comments

The ninth circuit court will be releasing their verdict on the linked page by 10am PST (noon CST). Is this the end for poor old Napster, or will other options be made available?
posted by Zebulun on Feb 12, 2001 - 6 comments

Is this finally it? Ever since I got my Cable Modem, Napster, and a CD burner I have wondered if the genie was ever going back in the bottle. It's gonna be fun to watch them try.
posted by fullerine on Feb 10, 2001 - 34 comments

What the Bertelsmann-Napster deal means.
"Hank Barry, chief executive of Napster, has suggested a monthly fee of about $4.95 might be appropriate, but he stressed that fees had not been set." (NYT article; grow up.)
posted by sylloge on Nov 1, 2000 - 11 comments

Stanford, MIT, Duke, and UNC refuse to block Napster. Wahoo! Go Stanford!
posted by hobbes on Sep 22, 2000 - 4 comments

When Headlines Go... OVERT? (the surrealist headline generator strikes again)
posted by wendell on Aug 18, 2000 - 4 comments

AngryCoffee.com An interesting web interface for searching and downloading mp3s floating around on the MyNapster and OpenNap networks (Napster has currently shut them out of their network). But if everyone starts using a browser interface like this (and aren't logged into a Napster-like client) who's going to be serving the files in the first place?
posted by hit-or-miss on Jul 30, 2000 - 2 comments

This just in: Napster's injunction to shut down tonight at midnight has been stayed (I'll add a url to a story when CNN writes it - BTW, how crazy is it that the napster news gets top level precedence as breaking news on a site as big as CNN? screenshot)
posted by mathowie on Jul 28, 2000 - 19 comments

Shut it down! Napster ordered to shut down immediately. Backlash anyone?
posted by Mick on Jul 26, 2000 - 42 comments

From the boys who brought you Napster comes the supposed copyright-adhering, pay-to-trade file swapping service AppleSoup. Here's their press release.
posted by Awol on Jul 17, 2000 - 5 comments

"Hatch Warns Labels, Don't Make Me Come Over There and Spank You" Oooh! This is gonna be good. [ From Inside via Dan Lyke's excellent Flutterby. ]
posted by baylink on Jul 13, 2000 - 20 comments

No one seems to have pointed out the Napster press release. It lists the points made in their legal brief, and, by cracky, they're all damned good ones. Their lead lawyer is the guy who just split Microsoft up; I think he might be able to win it; what do you think?
posted by baylink on Jul 6, 2000 - 14 comments

Motley disses Metallica Mister Sixx and pals give their response to Lars' crew, on the whole mp3/napster issue. Sounds like 2 groups of people are benefitting from all these lawsuits, lawyers and flash-cartoonists...
posted by nomisxid on May 31, 2000 - 4 comments

An interview with the lawyers from Napster and Metellica. Good points, both.
posted by Mick on May 22, 2000 - 6 comments

Dr. Dre follows in Metallica's footseps and hands over a list of 239,612 user ID's to Napster to for possible termination of these accounts.
posted by vitaflo on May 17, 2000 - 13 comments

Kid Rock starves to death-- Napster to blame. Now I understand why Metallica is so angry.
posted by sugarfish on May 17, 2000 - 7 comments

(No link, but at least it's on topic :-)
Submitted for your approval: the recording industry has shot themselves in the head, forcing users to switch from Napster, which at least gave them a mechanism to charge people who wanted to pay, to the decentralized approach of Gnutella, et al, which makes that completely impossible. Opinions?
posted by baylink on May 9, 2000 - 16 comments

Download an Mp3... ...and goto jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Of course, you can always DoS attack the Motion Pictures Association of America's website, (which was down as I was writing this.) but that would most likely only land you in even deeper water than downloading the Mp3.
posted by da5id on Apr 17, 2000 - 5 comments

WTF!?! Everyone's favorite band (back in high school) Metallica is suing Napster and a handful of universities for unlawful trading of their music. This is ridiculous, and I hope it doesn't set a precedence. If anyone would just slap a revenue model on napster so artists could get paid for their work, none of this piracy crap would happen. And Metallica, what about the other apps that do the same thing, are you going to sue them too? And what about every other band on earth? What do you expect to get out of universities, tighter controls over bandwidth, or student monitoring of internet usage? What about every cable modem and DSL provider that lets people use Napster, are you going after them too? Why don't you sue everyone on earth that's heard your songs but didn't pay for them? Side question: Is it better to burn out or fade away?
posted by mathowie on Apr 13, 2000 - 17 comments

And in other news, Indiana University announced today that they're developing jointly with Napster a solution to the congestion problem the MP3-sharing program can cause (which has led to Napster being blocked by campuses nationwide). Access to Napster will be reinstated on campus for a two-week period starting March 25 to test this new method. This new method will soon be made available for web developers at http://bestpath.iu.edu. Yippee. I get to download *NSync tunes again.
posted by hit-or-miss on Mar 22, 2000 - 1 comment

ABC reports on Napsters usage on University Campuses.
posted by TuxHeDoh on Feb 27, 2000 - 2 comments

how to get around the recent napster embargo
posted by efader on Feb 27, 2000 - 3 comments

Contrary to what the record industry thinks, mp3s sell CDs. Today I bought "Irish Drinking Songs" after hearing "Water is Alright in Tay" and "Beer, Beer, Beer" mp3s I downloaded from Napster. Hearing the beer song brought back a distinct memory. I recall hearing it blaring from a jukebox and singing along with 50 strangers at an Irish pub in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, 1998.
posted by mathowie on Jan 26, 2000 - 4 comments