Napster is history. The company's executives said the business was headed for shutdown earlier this month. They later fired the staff and resigned. But the rise and fall of Napster left a legacy of countless alternative file-swapping sites and controversy, from artistic dilemmas to legislative confusion.
In September, Napster had filed for bankruptcy protection in hopes of selling its assets to Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate, to save the business.
Judge Peter J. Walsh of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Delaware ruled against the proposition, despite Napster's pledge to become a pay service that would reimburse the recording business for downloaded files.
This action ended the long and twisted demise of the fastest-growing and arguably most popular Internet service of its time.
In Napster's place is a seemingly infinite array of alternative downloading programs.
Afternapster.com, a site dedicated to finding alternative peer-to-peer networks since Napster went offline in July 2001, lists close to 100 programs and sites that facilitate free file exchange, rating KaZaa Media Desktop as No. 1.
Another popular file-sharing program is Morpheus, the brainchild of Streamcast Networks. Kelly O'Neil, president of O'Neil Communications and representative of Streamcast Networks, said that there is no correlation between Morpheus and Napster, and that comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.
"Napster had no business model" other than stealing music, O'Neil said, whereas Morpheus "revolutionizes the way peer-to-peer networks communicate and share all types of information" without the theft of copyrighted materials. O'Neil stated clearly that Streamcast Networks does not condone Internet piracy, but combats it.
Third on Afternapster.com's list is eDonkey2000, a file-sharing application that is sweeping Europe (particularly Germany) and is on its way to being the next big player. Jed McCaleb, the developer who wrote eDonkey2000's program, said that he designed the versatile client as a tool for the efficient transfer of legitimate files, and not for stealing music.
For example, eDonkey2000 has joined in a partnership with independent film company Transmission Films, in which eDonkey2000 allows Transmission's films to be downloaded in the hope of building a consumer base.
Another advocate for online exposure is singer-songwriter Janis Ian. Ian has published two articles about the issue of Internet ethics, and her articles were posted on over 1,000 websites, translated into nine languages and featured on BBC. Ian condones the downloading of an artist's work, so long as the artist grants his or her permission.
"Everyone is forgetting the main way an artist becomes successful -- exposure," Ian wrote in one of her articles. "Most people can't afford to spend $15.99 to experiment."
Ian believes that, in a way, file-sharing technology can be used as online listening booths, to sample a song and persuade the consumer to buy the CD, making a profit for the artist. That's why she believes the government should overhaul the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which she describes as a "badly written and crappy piece of legislature."
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was signed by President Clinton in 1998, prohibits the spreading of copyrighted work. But Ian notes that the recording companies are the ones that own the copyrights, leaving artists with no say in whether or not consumers can sample the artists' work on the Internet.
File-swapping is "a great way for new artists to get their stuff out there" Daniel Yi '06 said. "After downloading a song, I would go and buy the CD."
But the students of Dartmouth do not have this capability. The experience of Nathan Hamilton '06, who said that "for some reason here at Dartmouth, KaZaa downloads really slow," is typical.
Director of Communications Services Bill Brawley said that file-sharing networks consume a tremendous amount of bandwidth.
"A single computer uploading music files can soak up 50 percent of the Dartmouth bandwidth" and thus cause all the other online activities to crowd into the other 50 percent, said Brawley.
Brawley's philosophy is that "Each user shall have a fair share of resources" and those who download voluminously use more than their fair share. Thus, the Dartmouth connections are prioritized so that e-mail from your professor and web access to dartmouth.edu is given greater priority than a student in the Choates trying to download Avril Lavigne's "Complicated."
