The Rise and Fall of Napster

Jedi Paramedic writes "Boston.com has an interesting story about the rise and fall of everyone's favorite file-swapping service. Also the subject of a new book by Joseph Menn, the story goes into great detail about the unfortunate-but-heroic Shawn Fanning and his reluctance to admit that his uncle, who in the end masterminded little more than the lining of his own pockets, had taken advantage of him. From getting screwed in the original 70/30 split with his uncle to his uncle's refusal to loosen his iron grip on the company even at the expense of its very being, the article (and the book) go a long way in chronicling the rise and fall of Napster, and crediting Shawn for not airing the family's dirty laundry. An interesting and well-written read."

Comments

Shawn Fanning was heroic?

[Nathan Ramella]

While the unobservent viewer might liken Napster to the legend of Robin Hood, if you take a step back and realize that Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the down-trodden and poor who had no food or freedom, Napster just facilitated the theft of music.

I guess you could make the argument that music and information want to be free and that life without music would be a terrible existence, but the only difference between Napster and shoplifting a CD is physical evidence.

Re:Ah, yes... Napster

[Overly Critical Guy]

Yeah, it rocks working on something and not getting paid for it. I'm glad it worked out this way. Who needs copyright? People are entitled to download and steal whatever they want because it's there and it's convenient.