I was like a kid in a candy store when Napster came out and I still have an old PC with a hard drive FULL of songs that I one day need to go through. Will I ever really burn myself a CD of Ferrante and Tiescher's Space Aged Prepared Piano freak-outs?

this was the best. damn metallica. ok I sort of understand why people think everyone who goes on napster is there for a free ride but I know plenty of people, myself included that used napster as a way to find out if a band was worth it or not. Not everyone can afford to buy an album that's going to sit in the closet collecting dust. The napster years was a time in my life that I bought the most albums. Why? because only a fool wants the low quality stuff you get from other users, but it is good enough just to listen to and determine if you will like it or not.I don't buy it in a second that this 3% decline *ooo* in sales was due to napster being out there.There were a lot of people out there sick and tired of the big corps making the bucks off the little guys and refusing to buy that big stuff anymore.Had nothing to do with napster.

Napster sucks. I paid the money for one album and couldn't download it to a 2nd computer as advertised. I requested assistance four days ago and have nothing but the credit card charges, and an email acknowledging my request.

slow down, cecil. the Radio Does it every day. Anyway, Napster was the best site out there, and still is my #2 choice.

Gone now...darn RIAA

Okay, this is for everyone out there who thought that the soapbox was a good place to stand for a while. It's time to kick your ass off and get someone else up there. Napster is ingenious and anyone who doesn't think that is completely oblivious to the ever-changing world around us. Technology has made each and every one of our lives so much better (or easier) that it is no wonder why someone created a site that would allow people from all over the world to exchange music w/each other. Though I do agree that it is trapping to musicians and takes away from their sales, but with everything from CD BURNERS(which also takes away from music sales) to instant messengers(which takes away from long-distance calling providers), you'd think there would be a way to work around this delimna. Napster recently started charging people (or they were supposed to) for the music they downloaded. That's not a problem. Many, if not all, wouldn't mind paying for the music they downloaded to support the artist of their choice. Something could be started where amount of downloads was the opperative comparison to most popular artist/song. It's not hard to work around this people. All you have to do is use your head. I understand completely, the copyright laws and everything in between, but since millions of people sign on everyday to download music from their favorite artist, then it would seem obvious to the government and the artist themselves that this is a phenomenon worth dealing with. I will go out and buy a CD from an artist I believe deserves my $20, but for one song that is the only decent song, in my opinion, on the CD, I wouldn't invest $2 for it. It's ridiculous. If you charge so many cents per song, it will well cover the charge of any CD considering the amount of downloads it would get, knowing that that many people who downloaded the particular song, less than half would have gone out to buy the whole CD. Use your heads when thinking in this situation. It is easily solved, and not by law-suits.

I remember the glory days when you were able to find artists that were even locally known (let alone artist known round the world). Now they're filing chapter 11. Oh well, at least there's IMeah.

NAPSTER SUX AND STEALING STUFF FROM ARTIST IS NOT KEWL,WHAT METALLICA GOT MAD ABOUT IS THAT NAPSTER DIDNT EVEN ASK THEM IF THEY COULD,SEE HOW MUCH ASKING CAN DO

The story of napster is a very sad one, one of the most trusted names in internet music sharing was the best source for digi-music downloads. It was incredible when it was first out, it was so easy to get your hands on the song you wanted! all you did was search for it!! then if you wanted that song, you just simply downloded it!And they had a powerful and huge network, that had millions of hungry digital music fans feasting on the cd quality digital music. and that has really laid the groundwork for the digi-net-music standard! it gave users the power of geting whatever song they wanted for free!! but that sadly had to change, the RIAA had to force that great company to shut down and stop thier services. that was the worst impact on the digitsal music world... That was a wrong doing by the RIAA but luckally it wasn't the end of filesharing, then onther clients, like kazza and imesh came along, and napster eventually died out. and that cost alot of money to napster. and the compny spen so much money on thier servers and getting the whole thing set up and the RIAA really screwed up. AS you know they have thier limits now and most of the files are now limited to your hard drive with the .nap extension which means you can't do the things you do with mp3 files, like burn them to a cd and use them on other applications like real jukebox, or any of those dj prog's. which will really drive people away and the selection of limited with only indie-lables songs and no manistream at all. and the absolute worst had to happen, it's not free anymore!! you have to pay around 20 bucks a month!! now what if you don't download anything? you still have to pay!!! it's not napster's fault at all and I really think they come up with a by-pass for that!!! they will get revenge on the grubby RIAA!!!! That's why I DID NOT give them a bad rating, it's NOT THIER FAULT THIS HAD TO HAPPEN!!! I FEEL TERRIBLY SORRY FOR NAPSTER!!!

Napster was awesome. It was a great way for up-and-coming bands to promote themselves, and a way for already famous bands to promote themselves as well. I don't understnad why some artists (*cough* METALLICA *cough*) had such a problem with it. I mean, the radio plays free music everyday, 24 hours a day, and they don't try to shut that down. And even though free music was available to me right on my computer, I still went out and bought the CD's from artists who I heard on Napster...it's not like I stopped buying CD's altogether. I just wish I and millions of other people still had Napster...it would make thing a lot better for every music lover.

A GREAT revolutionary website in the history of the music industry. These MP3 downloads have changed millions of lives. I greatly commend its creator. Allow Napster to continue operating!

Is it wrong? Yes. Is it stealing? To a point. However, the record companies look like total money grubbing pimps here. Instead of figuring out a way to make money off of this (something I still don't understand how Napster the company did), they push to stop this, DISPITE all-time record album sales. Bands like Metallica, while I understand their point, came off (for the first time in their careers, mind you) as money-hungry corprate talking heads. In all, I loved Napster. It was great. Now there are so many sites doing this, they can't stop them all. It's useless closing the barn doors after the horses have gotten out.

Good place to get music, but it's so dang SLOW! Took me about two hours to get a two-minute song by Creedence Clearwater Revival! I don't really giveacrud whether they violate copyrights or whatever, but sometimes I have other things I would like to do online (e.g. go to Rateitall) and it's annoying having to check up on Napster every five minutes to see how far along my downnloads are. The speed limit around here should be a little more than snail's pace!

Not as good now but still carries some good music.

After previously being critical of NAPSTER, I have to commend them for their current efforts. They are working diligently to put in place a song “fingerprint” technology that will accurately track songs and aid in the protection of individual artists works, legal rights, and still provide a high quality digital music service. The Internet has opened a completely new environment of information gathering and sharing. It is not always going to be easy or even pretty when we run up against the new envelopes of morals and legality. I am glad to see them not give up and continue to search for solutions and technologies that expand our capabilities while remaining within the boundaries of our legal system. This only proves that technology is boundless and when used properly can satisfy everyone’s needs.

Great source for downloading music u love. From big top names to small town singers. They got it all.

I can understand both aruments on this subject but I really enjoy Napster. The music industry complains about Napster and how they lose money but they lose more money from people burning CD's. I know several people who burn CD's and don't even bother with Napster.

Napster is GREAT! Or was great before they set nasty limitations to the music that we can share.

This website is hardly hurting artists. What the site does is give the person a "preview" of what could be expected from a CD. I mean, how many people really buy CDs without knowing what's on them? Most would rather know so they can spend their money wisely. With Napster, you can hear the songs from a CD to decide whether or not the CD is worth buying. Most people will buy the CD anyway, if they like the music, because it's hardly convenient to only be able to listen to the songs from a single computer, especially one that has multiple users. The good of Napster doesn't stop there though--they also have songs that AREN'T sold on CD... so now how is anyone supposed to listen to these songs without Napster? Simply, you don't. Now I hear some of you complain that it hurts the artists, that people don't buy the CD. Whether or not people buy the CD, it is going to hurt the artist a LITTLE, yes, but it's going to hurt someone else even more, someone who DESERVES to get hurt--the record companies. They charge about $15 to $20 per CD, why? CDs are CHEAP to make, at under $4 to create one, and probably much less. The artists get paid usually LESS than $2 per CD. That's $6, so where does the other $9 go? That's right--the record companies! They are selfishly making a killing off of us, and that isn't right. They want to ban Napster so they don't have to do something like lower the cost of CDs to get people to buy them--they'd still make a ton of money, charging $10 a CD, but they're selfish--they want as much money as they can get. Still, no matter, it's only fair for a person to get a chance to listen to the CD to decide whether they want the CD or not, and what other way is there besides Napster? UPDATE: It seems Snuffy Smith wanted to attack me... and did a substandard job of it. Yes, many CD stores DO have listening stations in them... but there is usually a VERY limited selection of music that you can hear at such stations, and it's usually some of the more bestselling music. You can't hear some of the great, rarer treats that you would be missing out on at such stations. And there is still music that isn't on CD... in your attack on me, you make no mention of THAT. And I think everyone who buys a CD believes that it's the artists, not the record companies, who really deserve most of the money anyway--they ARE, after all, the ones who entertain us with their songs! The next time you decide to attack someone, saying someone is wrong, you might want to attack the main points of the review rather than just a side statement.

Now I have something to say…nobody is stopping you from enjoying the music you love and hold so dear, go spend your hard earned money and go buy the stuff instead of mooching off of hard working professionals. Copyright laws were created to protect artists from scum sucking agents and others who feed off of the artist’s creativity but only fill their pockets and not those who truly deserve it. See most people think of the artist and the songwriter as the same person, when for the most part that is just not the case. Forget the albums for a second, it is only the vehicle to supply the art. The core of this debate is the song, that is what is copyrighted and protected to ensure people get paid, that’s right paid for their work. I guess you could say that a gifted CPA has an art with numbers, does that mean they should work for free just because they have talent. Now hear this, and hear it good. Go buy the stinking album if you like the songs that much!!!! You would not know what you were missing if it was never available to begin with and Napster should never have been available. Hey and guess what, if you love it soooo much you should be proud to financially contribute to its continuation. And another thing, nobody is stopping you from using the technology available today. If you write the song, guess what you own it and you can share it with anyone you want. My suggestion is write your own stuff, problem solved. If you can’t write your owns stuff and you still think all of this wonderful creativity and hard work should be free, I guess that leaves you in a quandary of whether to be a law abiding citizen or not. Read the copyright laws. Every time you copy a song to tape, Minidisc, CD, or your computer with out the express written consent of the copyright holder by request of a mechanical license you are breaking the law.

i think that napster is the greatest thing EVER!!!! it is DA BOMB!!! So yep i think that this web site is more that great it is TERRIFIC!!!!

I love napster! It is the best thing! I get all the songs I want and chat and all that aweome stuff! Pleez keep it alive!

Napster good courts bad.

For starters.....i'm not even on Napster anymore because apparently they kicked me off. WELL *@#!. Napster....i loved u :( i just think that mabye NOTIFY people to get rid of certain songs BEFORE you deicide to kick them off. I mean i don't even like Craig David THAT much i would of gotten rid of him. BUT HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT? Listen all i'm saying is give people a chance.....everybody wants to be part of the napster community so why not NOTIFY people saying that they WILL get kicked off if they dl any of the following songs or they have to delete certain songs. BECAUSE honestly with 902 files i am quite dissapointed that i will not get to share them with the rest of the world but whatever.....AIMSTER here i come.....BUBYE Napster.....you suck ass.

napster sucks. you sorry dirtbags are stealing from artists. that's the prevailing opinion of God as well as the law.

I'm not a Napster user, hell I didn't even know about Napster till all the lawsuits. But I have checked it out and I fell it is a good thing. I don't see how sharing our music is hurting the industry, I think it would help sales. I have friends in several other countries that haven't heard some of the music we listen to, and they have stuff I haven't heard. But with the freedom to exchange my music I have found several groups I like and will look for or even request at my local CD store.I am embarrassed that our government has gone so far as to try and limit our freedom. As for the artists involved well I am very sorry you lost a couple of dollars but some of us can't afford a tape let alone a CD so we do ask friends if they can get us a song or 2 that we do or did like up until now. I have kept an eye on who the whiners are and I for one don't plan to even acknowlage they are even out there, meaning I will not allow a Metalica song in my home or car, and so forth. Some of these groups have loss my respect and that of many of my friends. I am very sorry to have taken away all the profits and brought the artist down to poverty level. But this is just my opinion.

Wow.. don't you guys think Napster isn't gaining a fortune out of this. A billion dollar out of court settlement doesn't sound like they are really struggling for money either. The bottom line is... Napster should devise a way that only the bands that give their expressed consent should be allowed to be traded. What's the deal with the build up against metallica. There are lots of bands that are fighting it.

napster is the future. thats all i have to say about this program. plus theres no evidence that its effecting cd sells. i look at it as if many people would is like a trial run for songs. i simply download a song and if i like it i go buy the cd.

I don't like Napster anymore because I think these music artists deserve all the cash they can earn out of their OWN songs, and also for me the download process fails too often.

It's THE BEST! WOOOOOO YEA!

Ya know...I really like Napster and I like some of the music on there and I really hate the fact that now you are gonna be charged for downloading. Dang you Metallica. And to think I used to like Metallica....

I think it is good that we do not have to buy cd's if there is only one song we like on it. You just have to load it on your computer

Napster's Great! I can't believe the record labels won! It's so unfair! I hope they can find a way to still to Napster's real purpose, to provide users with a place to share their files without a fee!

I think that Napster is a great service besides the fact that it is cheating record companies. I myself have used Napster and think that it is a great way try before you buy! I don't think that they should be able to play as much of the songs as they do, they should make a limited amount of time, then it would be great.

i think that the only ones we are not able to download are the groups that have a problem with this hook-up! and i believe it should stay because it is not out of control or anything!!!

I love napster! It is great because then if their is just one song that you like by an artist, you dont have to buy the whole CD. They cont have the single all the time

we need more just like it.

Napster is the true contributor to the free world. I'm glad the music industry has less control to what we can listen. Now that I got music I like for PERSONAL USE only on CD's, I don't have to put up with the phony and ridiculously bad taste advertisements, unjustifiable opinions and music on the radio. Now musicians can have a chance to share their works all throughout the world, without the costly advertisements that the marketing and music industry charges.

napster is the most awesome. i wouldnt have boughted several cd unless i could have heard a few songs that i got off napster. so it has actually helped the record companies get my money!!!!!

It could be better--the way it's set up, it would be faster to transmit files over AOL Instant Messenger, especially for people stuck on 56K modems. And some users on fast connections are utter bastards to others on slower connections. I still feel that it would be best to charge $5 a month or something to use it.

Aside from the fact that you never really get something for nothing, this just has the smell of cheesiness about it. You can't seriously expect the recording industry to work for free can you? And, in the end, it's likely, the paying public will suffer for it with higher prices. Even if that doesn't happen, is it a bad thing to respect the artists you claim to enjoy listening to? Honesty is kind of a cheap way to feel good about yourself and will be worth more to you in the long run than the $15 you spend on a recording. So why not be assured of quality and a clean conscience and just buy the CD?

the day they start charging is the day I stop using. Why can't rich people be happy with the $$ they have and leave the people with much less alone? Metalica sucks!

I really like Napster. I think it's a great way to be able to listen to all the songs you want to be able to listen too. I don't think that the artists should start sueing Napster for using copyrighted songs. I like Metallica a lot, but I don't see why they are against the whole Napster thing. Now they are trying to put a charge on the use of Napster. I disagree with this all the way. If they take Napster away it's not like the people won't just go to different web sites to download songs. There's still Winamp out there people. I say leave Napster the way it is.

Any musician that has a problem with Napster don't care about anything but their wallets. Napster is also a way for the underground music to be heard. These musicians don't realize that this doesn't stop the purchasing of albums. In fact, since Napster was started, album sales went up 8%.

I think that Congess is retarded for shutting Napster down,and that lars Olson should quit whining and allow Napster to keep running. He complains that noone bought his cd's, yet not many people bough them anyway! and why the hell do some artists think its piracy? Its a bunch of innocent kids downloading their songs to burn CD's and to just enjoy their favorite songs by their favorite artists without having to spend $15-20 for just one song on a CD? Well, i personally LOVE Napster and i just wanted to speak my mind. If anyone liked my column, you can email me at ElCamino104@hotmail.com! THANKS!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE describs this site. keep "our" facist government off our net.We he people help make Napster. Weather Napster knows it or not, they are being true patriots for standing there ground and not letting the big guys push us around. keep up the good work.

Having downloaded a number of songs from Napster, there have been many times when it can become a little frustrating to say the least with the amount of time spent to complete your favourite(s) song.On a number of occasions while downloading a maximum of anything up to 8 songs all of a sudden you receive a message "transfer error", and the worst aspect in that situation, is it occurs quite unexpectedly.I also find "remotely Queued" a little annoying, but on the positive side, if you are patient you can practically download all your personal favourites songs from any era, and have them permanently kept in your "c" drive. What more do we want? take advntage!

I don't like when Metallica can dictate who can use napster to dl their songs.I don't care for their music,but when my user name was submitted to napster because my daughter dl Metallica,I got booted even though it was deleted from my files when I found it.Now I can't even get on napster since my user name was on a list submitted by a bunch of idiots that always preach music freedom.Seems to me that they have let commercialism go to their heads.Why is it a crime for people to dl it,when their music is a crime to intelligent people. Don't get me wrong,I just think that it's childish for them to hack napster & then say who can do what on there.

How can everysay that this is a brilliant site, the doesn't do anything. It's the software application that you have all downloaded that provides access to all the songs. Don't get me wrong the sites fine and Napster as an application is great but i thought this section was for music sites if so you should be looking at mtv2.

napster is the best thing on the internet i love it i didnt have it for like 5 days and i was going crazy. thank you so much for making it available to everyone