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I would say tech writers should not get worked up about this. If Napster
falls off the face of the earth, there are plenty of other programs out
there that will quickly take over with the same kind of connectivity with
other people, such as Gnutella and OpenNap, plus lots of search engines and
web sites like:
www.downloadcommunity.com,
www.mp3fiend.com,
www.getgnarly.com
www.scour.net
More related links at:
www.pzcommunications.com/mp3/programs/main.htm
By the looks of it, Napster is a has-been market leader. And so what if the
others get busted? A dozen others will take their place. And plenty of them
will need documentation. Especially using Word or FrameMaker.
But beyond that tired debate, there is a much bigger story to this than
simply RIAA suing Napster because they're encouraging illegal copying of
copyrighted materials by the general public. It's whether or not Napster and
other businesses like this are engaging in illegal activity, and more
importantly, if this operation is protected under the constitutional 1st
amendment regarding freedom of speech. I believe they are. Besides, IF RIAA
could show a recent and significant drop in overall sales, what is the
likelihood of them proving that it was due to Napster? I don't think they
could.
What's really the point is how the recording industry (and Hollywood) is
operating, and where the money is flowing. On this issue, I tend to agree
with the wackos in that the concept of "albums" is a convenient bundling a
bunch of crap with one or two good songs and charging a premium for it.
Nevermind how many tech writers they employ.
Looking at my own download habits, I've used Napster for a few dozen
individual songs that I would NEVER buy on a bundled CD. And I would never
download an entire CD worth of songs - takes too long, takes too much space
and most of the other tunes are crap.
If these recording labels would have gotten off their duff and marketed
individual songs for a buck or so per download, that might really make a
difference.
Don't sweat it. There are lots of alternatives for getting a free tune.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Posada [mailto:jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> Subject: OT: Music
>
> A while back, we discussed music that you listen to while working and
> several people mentioned that they download music MP3 files.
>
> I don't want to turn this into a discussion and won't participate in
> it, but the injunction was delivered to shut it down effective
> tonight.
>
>http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,37558,00.html
