Napsters Problem Essay, Research Paper

The Problem with Napster

The sole reason behind anybody’s discrepency with Napster is because there

is a group, maybe even the majority its users abuse what it is capable of.

They (they being college students and others with high-bandwidth

connections [T1, cable modems & DSL]) are using Napster to download

entire albums and put them on recordable CDs. They don’t see this as wrong,

merely because they can, “beat the system & get away with it.” They don’t

feel it is a threat to the artists & that not enough people are doing it to affect

sales. This is what the RIAA is targeting. But the problem herein lies in what

people do with the technology. Napster provides the means but it’s the people

who infringe copyrights. If you look at it, a VCR can be Napster. Illegal copies

can be made but is the VCR illegal? It’s all in the eye of the beholder and

from this eye, it’s the people who the RIAA should be after, not Napster or

MP3.com.

The RIAA sees the negative effects and only the negative ones. They don’t

realize what Napster was designed for.

Positive Uses

Trial basis

Backup

Rarities

In my humble opinion, there is nothing wrong with getting the album or

selected songs for a trial period. How this works is simple; like it, buy it. If

not, trash it. This doesn’t have to be enforced but easily code be with an

encoded encryption into each file. This has been how I have been operating

since about 1998. Bare in mind this was before I had a cable modem (savior)

and the advent of Napster. This was accomplished thru FTP sites. This took

MUCH longer but I still abided by my code.

Another benefit of Napster and MP3 altogether is for personal backup. If you

listen to your purchases CDs often enough, they will get scratched and

occasionally skip. For this reason as well as the possibility of losing the

album, a backup isn’t a bad idea at all. My.mp3.com simplifies this thru it’s

Beam-it software & web site. This is the process it goes through for each

album:

-Insert CD

-Run Beam-it application

-Click Beam-it button to check against database of uploaded MP3

albums

-Adds album to account

My.mp3.com is a great service that allows you to play your CDs at any

computer with an Internet connection. Coincedentally, the RIAA is suing

them as well.

Besides the first two advantages of Napster and MP3 in general provides,

there is yet another; the availability of rare songs. Let’s fac it, some songs

are hard to find and in some cases, nearly impossible. Using Napster, many

rare songs are now available such as the case with Metallica’s “Outlaw Torn”

off of the Load album. The rare version of the song is the one unencumbered

by the time restraints that was put upon the maximum length album. In

effect, the song on the CD is cut short, missing a full minute of one of their

shining moments. I was ecstatic to find this and I have Napter to thank.

Conclusion

Only time and a jury will decide the outcome of the Napster/MP3.com

lawsuits but if the facts are correctly stated, the RIAA might think twice about

trying to control someting that they aren’t even entitled to.