Napster... Small word... Big trouble...
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT HEARD OF NAPSTER YET::::
Napster is a search engine that allows you to find and download MP3 audio files. Napster essentially provides a virtual community of MP3 fans, in that each Napster user ’’shares’’ his or her MP3 collection with everyone else running Napster, ensuring a vast collection of MP3s for download.
Its funny how a small program written by a student can cause such a commotion around the whole world. Napster, as if you didn’t know, allows people to share MP3’s with other folk who want them. You simply type in the artist name or track that you want and 5-10 seconds later up pops a list of songs that in theory you could download by clicking on the go button. I say in theory ’cos often the download will get part way through and then stop or come down the phone line so slowly that it would be quicker to walk to the shops and buy the album.
The search facility isn’t the most accurate either. You often get some obscure American country/western singers song come up simply because his mother shared an initial with the day of the month (at least it seems that way sometimes). Also it occasionally happens that you’ll get nothing listed when you search despite there being over 100, 000 songs available on your particular server... It’s best in such cases to simply log off and rejoin. You’ll end up on another server with possibly fewer Britney fans on it..
Everyone surely knows by now that Napster is clinging onto life by its fingernails following the US courts decision to close it. The NPAA, Metallica, Dr Dre and others assert that Napster is robbing them of copyright fee’s by allowing the illegal download of their music. Technically they’re right, Napster does indeed do that. What that fail to mention is CD sales have never been healthier especially around the places Napster is most prevalent i.e. US colleges. Most people who use Napster do so to sample album tracks before buying. That’s the way I use it and I’ve never bought so many discs...
The advantage is it will allows you to try before you buy....
Have a nice day guys... and do try Napster... it still rocks even without the strings broken...... lol
Keep smiling...!
Chetan