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Napster and Beyond

The saga of Napster is somewhat akin to the classic case of having to attend your own funeral. But in this particular instance, it may be difficult to sing your own ode with so many thousands breathing out for your blood. Napster, the embattled P2P music site seems to be facing imminent meltdown.

Napster is a free Internet search tool that lets you search for, and download music in .MP3 and .WMA formats. By creating a virtual community of people who want to share music, the program ensures that there is a vast collection of files available for download. Napster also eliminates the problems of conventional FTP-based transfer by using special technology to ensure the completion of each transfer session.

What then is all the fuss about? By trying to preserve the future of digital openness, Napster has spelt its own doom. It's poised to go down in the history of P2P as its best and worst propaganda. Nevertheless, it's sad that Metallica with its democratic philosophy should have been instrumental in Napster's downfall. They're proof that time turns even the hardest of rebels into cautious, clean-shaven capitalists. But the moot question of this controversy is, does this spell an end for peer-to-peer computing?

You'll ask what, if any, are the evils of brands like Napster? The ethical and moral issues is largely dependent on attitude and perception. Napster's been accused of providing informed assistance and encouragement to "its users to infringe the record companies' copyrights". And in a landmark ruling, has been handed defeat. So the beloved of online music geeks is now the most despised name in the copyrighted music industry. And with the US Appeals Court's recent decision to side with record companies and some artists, the free ride seems to be over for this wildly popular music-swapping service.

The Court has ordered Napster to stop its millions of users from trading copyrighted material through its system without permission. This really is a hard blow, especially after the early runaway success.

In what's seen as extending an olive branch to the music industry, Napster offered to pay $1 billion as damages over a span of 5 years, in exchange for unlimited right to traffic their copyrighted property. Record companies were asked to make a list of all their copyrighted music that's shared and traded through Napster's system. The unlisted files will then only be made available. This move however, has invited plenty of critical censure.

Print and Internet media commentators have likened this act to hanging on your front door a list of all your valuables that'd be just fine for a burglar to take. An online music label claimed that Napster's own system provides a viable means for tracking copyright infringements. But whether these convincing attempts actually translate into concrete action remains to be seen. Practically speaking it can't work like that, because the spirit behind the conception of Napster has gone for a six. And everybody's favorite Napster is now debating the eternal question of whether to be or not to be.

Not only is this cool reception intended for Napster alone, but the countdown has started for a large-scale crack down on 38 million frenzied Napster fans. The music industry is actively developing a software that'll automatically detect people who are illegally swapping songs over the Internet. And it's prepared to pass the information onto the police. But what's been hailed as an end to electronic shop lifting on the Web, has sent out mixed signals to P2P technology.

The loser in all this P2P hubbub is network administration. It has ceased to matter whether Napster is gasping for breath. It's purpose is served, and now others are finally putting it to use. There's already an ocean of not-quite-legal MP3s available at AudioGalaxy, Bearshare, Limewire, MP3.com or an iMesh. One may rightly ask, why we're giving any more credence to Napster and its ongoing efforts to stay alive, if vital issues are at stake?

The reason's very simple. Once a technology initiates the economics of sharing, the business of music and MP3 fans will not let it die down so fast. Thus Napster's offspring live on. Now, Microsoft is working on a mega-P2P project code-named 'Farsite'. Moreover, Napster's near-death experience has brought into force the Napster Survival Kit.

But, Napster's revamped look has generated doubts about it's survival as a business? In a shocking move Napster forged a strategic relationship with the Bertelsmann Group to make itself a subscription-based service. The upside of this alliance means the beleaguered music service will finally possess something it lacked: a business model. Unfortunately, this attempt to pull a double-cross may result in stifling Napster, as the criticism unleashed by the announcement suggests.

Certain circles have interpreted this as a deft move to save Napster's own skin, instead of championing the cause of its user community. Though CEO Hank Barry says Napster's still 'about file sharing, file sharing, file sharing', it'll no longer be about free music. And music fans who have supported it thus far, may very well balk at putting their money in their mouths.

Meanwhile, the rage over wholesale theft of intellectual property continues unabated as Napster plays on in a bid to fight its shutdown order. The resultant stink has issued various suggestions from various quarters. One interesting idea is a tie-up between AOL and Napster. Music-minded Net heads may dismiss this as shuddering bad business. But such an alliance just might make sense for the sultan of song-swapping. But whether you talk of P2P pioneers, or P2P monsters, technology is already moving beyond Napster.

Imagine listening to music anytime, anywhere without downloading anything. That's exactly what Sony and Universal are offering. They've announced a deal to develop a subscription-based service for Internet audio and video that'd be available on a variety of devices, including personal computers, wireless devices and set-top boxes. The reality of this digital "juke box in the sky," can very well make the concept of owning music obsolete by giving people a disincentive to cheat.

Amrita Ghosh
[email protected]

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