Napster

Napster shut down! This was the headline on newspapers all across the country when a San Francisco court ordered Napster to shut down. Thankfully, a Federal Appeals Court granted a reprieve on that decision. Napster should not be shutdown!

Some opponents of Napster say that people who download songs are stealing music. People who believe this statement do not look at facts from Napster users. According to Lisa Bowman of ZDTV, Jupiter Communications conducted a poll and it asked Napster users if they were more likely or less likely to buy CD s now that they have Napster. 93% of the people surveyed said they would be more likely to buy compact discs even though they used Napster and downloaded songs from it. Last year when Napster was introduced to the world, music sales were up 15% from the year before even with overpriced CD s.

CD s are so overpriced that many people who cannot afford them turn to services like Napster. Blank compact discs cost about 25 cents, but there are extra costs like money for the artist and the record label, but that only totals about $4.00. The retail price of the CD exceeds the actual cost by 9 to 11 dollars. There are maybe 3 or 4 hit tracks on each CD and the rest of the tracks are filled with songs that are not very good. So services like Napster let people get the good songs without having to waste money on the other tracks. Most people only listen to the kind of music they like instead of discovering different types of music.

Napster lets people discover different types of music that they would not otherwise listen to. Even if people listen to the radio they only listen to the stations they like. The radio stations play only certain types of music. If they have Napster, they can download different types of music and see if they like it. If they do not like the music, money is not wasted on buying CD s they will never listen to.

In my opinion Napster should not be shut down! Napster actually helps CD sales and provides a service to people who want to listen to new music before they buy new CD s. If you support my idea, write the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA, 1330 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036) and tell them how you feel and Napster should stay in business!