with napster terminal what are you going to use?

[XRdirtHead]

To think I may have to go back to buying my music again...

 

[err]

Napster can't be dead, come on... its open source and tons of other napster servers are available through napigator.

I am not a bit worried. In fact I spend most of my searches through other servers in Napigator.

eRr

 

[Turbopit]

Now why would other providers be allowed to operate if napster is shut down? Or are the other systems mentioned simply programs that have no "company" behind them like Napster?


Since we are already on this type of subject, what program sharing services do you guys use? I had one similar to Napster, but lost it.

 

[megatexel]

Take the napster equipment to Libia!!!

 

[AmdEmAll]

Macro2: Great Idea!!!! I wonder the creater of napster has thought of that yet! That would be great, our government couldnt do Sh*t!!!

 

[Macro2]

I think Napster wants to be legit in the US so they can get some venture capital money, go public etc.

If the RIAA wants to put them under and does, why not go offshore. Someone mentioned a "data island". I think this is Antigua. I don't think they could be touched easily in somewhere like Russia either.

Napster is one of the greatest pieces of software every developed. It would be ashamed to see it snuffed out...

Mac

 

[Shockwave]

In my opinion, if Napster goes down it would be good. It would show all of America just how corrupt the government is by letting corporate interests prevail over the majority vote. How many poeple use Napster? 30 million or so? And yet the corporations get what they want. Besides, look at DivX. The point here is not whether Napster is shut down, but whether the common citizen will overcome the rulings of the courts by creating other programs to take its place. Its complete bullsh!t that the recording industry is doing this. And how many poeple here have wrote your congessman? So, let the corporations win this battle. But dont let them win the war.

 

[Auric]

I haven't use Napster Corp's servers since the Metalica kerfuffle but I still use the client via Napigator. Even my mum brought up Napster being "shut down" and all I could do was shrug and tell her the cat is already out of the bag. Apart from the possible legal precedent it is a "non-event". If they truly do lose I'm sure the other servers will be targeted but I am not concerned. As said, the Gnutella system is also good and unstoppable (I use Gnotella) and of course there is always icky ol' IRC, FTP, and other Napsteresque systems. Sharing information cannot be stopped only made more difficult for the average Jane. Worst case scenario is that there is a slightly smaller community as the more casual user cannot be bothered to jump through an extra hoop even if its a big one at ground level like Napigator.

 

[MikeyP]

In response to a few of the posts, as much as I love Napster--I've downloaded hundreds of songs over the last bit because it is going down--the RIAA is correct on this one It is copyrighted material, they (not us) have the rights to it. What I am not in favor of is paying $20 for a CD on which I like 2 or 3 songs. I think buying music off the internet will be the future. You pay $.50 and download the song; I could live with that.

 

[Auric]

Well the music industry was straight out ripping people off by price fixing for at least a couple decades. I don't recall the details or have a link handy at the mo' but it was one of those "no admission of guilt but we agree to give money back" type arangements in 1999 or 2000.

CD's are still way overpriced. And I totally agree that "having" to buy an album full of filler for one or two good songs is stoopid. They can't justify to themselves doing it any differently though because there is not enough total profit off one song to support the system (all the middle men and marketing). That does not make it right to rip-off songs either but obviously changes have to be made. In the end, the ARTISTS and the music listeners will benefit and the weasels and sham pop-stars will lose. See, change is good.

Anyhoo, the reason I came back to post is because I started poking around to see what was new since last last Spring when I discovered Gnutella and came upon a couple sites worth checking out:

Bearshare
Audiofind - Gnutella Network Search

 

[velvetfreak]

I'd say if you can't get onto Napster at Uni, it's definitely been locked down port-wise - at the firewall. I am (partly) responsible for the firewall at the company I work for. If you want an idea, go get TPF (Tiny Personal Firewall). It's free for home use, and I consider it necessary - especially if you're on cable. For instance, I can let file sharing through, as long as it's connecting to Napster or Gnutella, and at the same time block people trying to ping my IP.

As for the OpenNap servers (and Gnutella as a whole), I believe the networks are protocol-based. In the case of Nap servers, the owners - private or commercial - can be targeted, which is what makes them vulnerable. Gnutella however, has a much more distributed architecture which you can think of this way: When you fire up a Gnutella client and are online, you are effectively equivalent to a Nap server. That's what makes Gnutella so powerful - imagine if all the Napster users went to Gnutella, there's no way anyone would be able to police 20 million "servers".

I'm currently evaluating BearShare 2.06 (or something) but I miss Napster's search power, especially with the ability to ignore words, and specifying bitrate minimums. I'll probably be a Napster user 'til the last stake is driven through the last Nap server's heart - unless some other software zooms up with superior features. Then I'll be the first rat to jump ship.

 

[Auric]

I'm really liking BearShare, it whoops the pants off Gnotella which I had been using and even has it's own message board so there is sort of a community.

Checking Gnutella News I see Naptster is doomed anyway because they are planning on switching to a payed system. So get on the Gnutella bandwagon today so you aren't caught with your pants down tomorrow (and other mixed metaphors).

I'm with velvetfreak: use Naptster 'till it goes bu$t then move on. I shan't lament. Another good service I tried way back was Filetopia but it lacked a decent user base when last I checked.

Now I sleep...

 

[Ben88]

The recording industry has been price gouging for a LONG time and now it is coming back to bite them in the ass. The hooplah that this whole trial has created is BAD for the recording industry. Too many regular Joes are using napster and are sick of paying $18 for ONE cd. If I could say one thing to these f*ckers it would be, "too little too late." If you had priced your product fairly from the begining, perhaps you wouldnt be losing 30% of your expected profits today. nuff said-

 

[BD2003]

I think the average person buys around 6 cds a year or so. That comes out to roughly $100 bucks. Some buy more, some less. But if they charged $10 a month for unlimited downloads (very reasonable price), theyd make even more money, not to mention they wouldnt have to produce as many cds. Why are they being so dumb?

 

[madthumbs]

$.50 a song is too much!

They;

*Are not CD quality
*Are not tangible property
*Wouldn't be convenient if you had to wip out your CC to pay for them
*Don't have any market resale value
*Wouldn't hold a candle to music club prices (>$3/cd)

Music is advertisement for band based merchandise, and concerts. It's always been free on the radio. We pay for marketing and hype. I think there should be a revolution to make music free! No more listening to just the bands that could get "signed", or are overly marketed. I think musicians need to take a stand against the industry that rips them off as well as us!

 

[gogeeta13]

Napster Cant go offshore now, remember, they were bought by BMG. Or thats what i think i heard.

 

[larrymoencurly]

I'll have to go back to my other life of crime - shoplifting.