Why was Napster the whipping boy for the RIAA?

[telstar1]

Why was Napster the poster-child for what companies shouldn't do in the MP3 world?
I'm curious why file-sharing applications like Morpheus haven't received the same treatment.

 

[AzAbyss]

Napster was the first "mainstream" file-sharing app. Thats why it's got so much attention. As for Morpheus, etc. its harder to track because there are no central servers like there were with Napster. The only thing the RIAA can do with Morpheus is sue the company that distributes it and force them to stop making the software available.

-Az

 

[Theslowone]

They have recieved similar treatment, but napster was at the time the big bad moe foe on the block, now its just a lot of nobodies.

Kazaa right now is under a lot of heat from them, but since they aren't in the states and all of them use the same protocol then its harder for them to close one down.

 

[Salvador]

Because it was so popular and easy to use. Heh.. Even my dad could use it and he still needs help creating new folders in Windows. I think the record industry is fine with it as long as the average joe can't download a crap load of songs. I think they know that they can't stop it all, so why not concentrate on the most popular sites.

Sal

 

[telstar1]

Morpheus could just as easily be shut down by shutting down the authentication servers.
Couldn't it?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Because the RIAA was a bunch of ignorant fools who followed the time honored tradition of sue first, think later. They just wanted to take someone into court to prove their position and Napster was the largest target at the time. The RIAA managed to give Napster and file sharing billions of dollars in publicity and millions of new users by keeping it in the headlines every day rather than making a quiet deal. So the one company with central servers that the RIAA could hope to control and profit from is gone and hundreds of others that are virtually untouchable sprang up in it's place. That case will go down in history as one of the most ill-conceived lawsuits ever and the one ultimately most harmful to the winner. The RIAA won the battle and by exposing their weaknesses in every magazine cover story, assured that they will lose the war. Has anyone really stopped trading .mp3s since Napster bit the dust? BWAHAHA!! There's not a song on earth by any artist that isn't within easy reach.