History of Napster

Napster is an application that allows users to swap music with each other by using a search option which finds the songs requested by the user and then allows users to download them from other users at no cost. As of now, Napster is the world s leading file sharing community. There are 38 million users worldwide (San Jose Mercury News, November 1, 2000, pg.1, 20A) and 1 million new users join the music community each day.

A 19-year-old college student by the name of Shawn Fanning created Napster in 1999. He created this program because he and his friends were tired of surfing the Internet for countless hours searching for MP3 music files. His goal was to establish a program that would allow computer users to swap music files with one another directly without going through a centralized file server. Shawn Fanning combined the features of existing programs using the instant messaging system of Internet Relay Chat, the file-sharing functions of Microsoft Windows and the advanced searching and filtering capabilities of various search engines. (Greenfield, Karl T., Meet the Napster, Time, October 2, 2000, vol. 156, no.14, p. 62.) His intentions were not to cause harm to the music industry at all. But as it turn out, the program became so successful that Shawn Fanning decided to expand the potential of Napster. Later, he then founded a startup company called Napster.com in Redwood City, CA. The primary goal of the startup was to provide a great tool for exploring and experiencing new artists and music you ve never heard. Independent artists and upcoming musicians find Napster to be an excellent tool for promoting their music. Napster has forced record companies to rethink their business models and record-company lawyers and recording artists to defend their intellectual property. (Greenfield, Karl T., Meet the Napster, Time, October 2, 2000, vol. 156, no.14, p. 62.)