 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
Testimony of Shawn Fanning
Testimony of Shawn Fanning
I am very happy to have this opportunity to tell you about Napster's origins, describe how the technology works and discuss the future potential of peer-to-peer file sharing and distributed computing.
Posted by rshah on February 04, 2003| Comments (0)
Judge Blocks Napster's Sale to Bertelsmann
Judge Blocks Napster's Sale to Bertelsmann
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh blocked the sale of ailing Napster to Germany's Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's largest media companies, which owns BMG music and Random House publishers, along with several other assets. Bertelsmann's previous regime wanted to turn the vestiges of Napster into a retooled service that would not face legal challenge.
Posted by rshah on September 12, 2002| Comments (0)
Upheaval at Bertelsmann May End Plans for Acquisition of Napster
Upheaval at Bertelsmann May End Plans for Acquisition of Napster
Thomas Middelhoff's ouster from Bertelsmann may be a crippling blow for Napster, the music service that Mr. Middelhoff championed. People involved in negotiations to revive Napster said Bertelsmann may now be less inclined to purchase the service from bankruptcy or to spend tens of millions of dollars to settle copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the major record companies and obtain licenses from them to sell their music online.
Posted by rshah on July 31, 2002| Comments (0)
Bertelsman Buys Napster; CEO and Founder Stay On
Bertelsman Buys Napster; CEO and Founder Stay On
German media conglomerate Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire Napster in a deal that will keep the controversial file-sharing service alive for the near future. Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers and Shawn Fanning, Napster's creator, will remain with the company.
Posted by rshah on May 21, 2002| Comments (0)
The Day the Napster Died
The Day the Napster Died
Napster, the software application that ignited the music file-trading frenzy, came to an apparent end on Tuesday after its board of directors nixed a sale that would have kept the company afloat.
Posted by rshah on May 16, 2002| Comments (0)
Napster court win puts labels in spotlight
Napster court win puts labels in spotlight
A federal judge gave file-swapping company Napster a significant win in court Friday, ordering new scrutiny of the big record labels' ownership rights to music that could affect their own online plans.
Posted by rshah on February 23, 2002| Comments (0)
How the music industry blew it
How the music industry blew it
John Alderman's "Sonic Boom" recounts the history of Napster -- and the unstoppable rise of file trading.
Posted by rshah on December 01, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster reaches settlement with publishers
Napster reaches settlement with publishers
Music-swapping company Napster announced a major deal with music publishers, settling part of its outstanding lawsuit and helping clear the way for its planned subscription service.
Posted by rshah on September 25, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster blasts court's technical meddling
Napster blasts court's technical meddling
New legal documents filed by song-swapping company Napster provide an uncharacteristic glimpse behind closed court doors, showing the company chafing for months under the hands of the court's technical adviser.
Posted by rshah on August 09, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster must stay offline
Napster must stay offline
A federal judge ordered Napster to remain offline until it can show that it is able to effectively block access to copyrighted works on its file-swapping network, according to both parties involved in the suit.
Posted by rshah on July 12, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster pauses file-swapping service
Napster pauses file-swapping service
Struggling to make new song-blocking software work, Napster on July 2nd temporarily stopped all file trading on its once-popular service. The hiatus comes shortly after Napster disabled old versions of its software. It pushed its members to a new version that rendered the service all but unusable, blocking even the most obscure, uncopyrighted works from being traded.
Posted by rshah on July 03, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster users lose that sharing feeling
Napster users lose that sharing feeling
The number of music files shared on Napster has plummeted in the past four months as the Internet song-swapping service continues to filter unauthorized content according to the research firm Webnoize.
Posted by rshah on June 29, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster Bans Non-Native Clients
Napster Bans Non-Native Clients
Napster is now refusing connections to anyone not running its 2.0 beta 10.3 client. Of course, this stops anyone from using a client not published by Napster. The error message that the Napster server gives you is: "::: server / You must upgrade your client at http://www.napster.com ::: error / You must upgrade your client at http://www.napster.com" The Napster website says: "Beta 10.3 incorporates new file identification technology
Posted by rshah on June 28, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster taps Loudeye for copyright security
Napster taps Loudeye for copyright security
Napster has selected Loudeye Technologies Inc. to provide digital "fingerprints" and other data to help the online song-swapping service spot and delete copyright songs. Using fingerprinting technology provided by Napster, Loudeye will develop unique digital signatures for more than 2 million tracks. The information also will be used for Napster's planned membership service, which is scheduled to launch this summer.
Posted by rshah on June 08, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster file sharing down 90 percent
Napster file sharing down 90 percent
The average number of files being shared on Napster Inc.'s MP3-swapping service has fallen 90 percent in the three months since court-mandated filters were installed to block the trading of copyrighted music, according to a new study released by digital entertainment research firm Webnoize Inc.
Posted by rshah on June 08, 2001| Comments (0)
Real Progress in Secure Music
Real Progress in Secure Music
The major labels appear to be forcing Napster to prove its competency. The thing is, for Napster to deliver music through MusicNet they will have to use the RealNetworks security system. It all adds up to a situation where RealNetworks should be able to -- by virtue of its huge customer reach -- set the standard for delivering music over the Internet in a way that protects content providers from having their product ripped off.
Posted by rshah on June 07, 2001| Comments (0)
Indiana! The Musical
Indiana! The Musical
How Indiana University implemented measures to minimize Napster's impact on bandwidth and then was charged with copyright infringement by Metallica.
Posted by rshah on June 06, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster the movie: coming to a screen near you?
Napster the movie: coming to a screen near you?
I can confirm we're in development on a project called 'Napster','' said Marc McCarthy, a spokesman for Starz Encore, a provider of movie programming for cable television operators that is a unit of Liberty Media Group.
Posted by rshah on June 06, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster cuts deal with majors
Napster cuts deal with majors
The company has struck a distribution deal with MusicNet, the music subscription service jointly created by RealNetworks, Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann and EMI Recorded Music. Expected to go live this summer, the MusicNet affiliation will eventually give Napster access to more than half of the mainstream music most often sought by consumers.
Posted by rshah on June 05, 2001| Comments (0)
Meet the Napster
Meet the Napster
An Interview with Shawn Fanning
Posted by rshah on June 01, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster hit with another copyright charge
Napster hit with another copyright charge
MediaBay, a seller of old-time radio shows over the Internet and in retail stores, filed a complaint against Napster, the popular song-swap service, charging copyright infringement and unfair competition.
Posted by rshah on May 31, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster listens to songs in new release
Napster listens to songs in new release
A new version of Napster's file-swapping software was released May 2001 that adds another potentially powerful tool as the company attempts to keep copyrighted works from being traded.
Posted by rshah on May 08, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster Licenses "Acoustic Fingerprinting
Napster Licenses "Acoustic Fingerprinting
Napster said that it has licensed technology from Alexandria, Va.-based Relatable that identifies songs using the wavelength patterns produced by their sounds. It was unclear, however, when the file-swapping company planned to implement filters based on such a system or whether such an approach would satisfy its adversaries, see also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on April 26, 2001| Comments (0)
ASSESSING NAPSTER'S FILTERING EFFORTS
ASSESSING NAPSTER'S FILTERING EFFORTS
Several technical experts have reviewed Napster's file filtering process and found it to be inadequate. They note that filtering by name is bound to fail and that a better approach would be to target the MD5 hash - a digital checksum that identifies all duplicate files.
Posted by rshah on April 16, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster's Filter...Uh, What Filter?
Napster's Filter...Uh, What Filter?
Out of these 20 songs, I found 17 of them simply by searching for part of the song name. That means Napster's filter was successful only 15% of the time in blocking even the most basic searches for the titles of popular songs.
Posted by rshah on April 10, 2001| Comments (0)
Survey Shows Overseas Use of Napster Outstrips U.S.
Survey Shows Overseas Use of Napster Outstrips U.S.
The survey, by Jupiter Media Metrix, found that during February 30.3 percent of at-home Internet users in Canada downloaded songs from Napster. That is the highest rate in any nation in the survey, and compares to 16.1 percent of Internet users in the United States. The survey found that Argentina, Spain and Brazil also had a higher percentage of online users exchanging songs on Napster than in the United States.
Posted by rshah on April 05, 2001| Comments (0)
Hardware Manufacturers May Lose if Napster Goes Away
Hardware Manufacturers May Lose if Napster Goes Away
Hardware manufacturers and especially high-speed Net providers may also be shedding a few private tears over Napster. To download, store and listen to MP3-encoded files, consumers have purchased an array of hardware and software: decent speakers, a CD burner, a large hard drive, and software for compiling play lists and converting audio tracks from standard CDs to the MP3 format. Read the article: ZDNet News @
Posted by rshah on March 14, 2001| Comments (0)
CDDB Helping Napster
CDDB Helping Napster
Napster has just signed an agreement with them to use Gracenote's services, and by extension the community-built CDDB databases, to implement its copyright blocking.
Posted by rshah on March 14, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster to voluntarily halt song trades
Napster to voluntarily halt song trades
Napster fans this weekend wil be unable to find thousands of songs as the company voluntarily removes titles in anticipation of a court order that could demand stronger remedies.
Posted by rshah on March 05, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster Secures New Format, .nap
Napster Secures New Format, .nap
With up to 1.9 million users on the system at one time trading files, the new .NAP file would quickly make headway into the consumer marketplace, prompting consumer electronics manufacturers to begin supporting the new file format.
Posted by rshah on March 05, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster screens songs, but files still slip through
Napster screens songs, but files still slip through
Late Sunday night, music-swapping firm Napster offered its first tangible olive branch to the record industry, turning on a filtering system meant to block thousands of songs from being traded.
Posted by rshah on March 05, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster hurts CD single sales
Posted by rshah on February 26, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster Adding "Protection Layer
Napster Adding "Protection Layer
In the new Napster, which the company says will be launched as soon as possible, users will still be able to swap MP3 files ripped from their own CDs. But Napster will add a new "protection layer" to MP3s as they move from one user's computer to another, allowing the service to control what users do with the files they download.
Posted by rshah on February 26, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster Offers $1B For Music-Swapping Rights
Napster Offers $1B For Music-Swapping Rights
See also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on February 21, 2001| Comments (0)
Marketing to Napster Users
Marketing to Napster Users
According to American Demographics, Napster has created "powerful new opportunities for music marketeers."
Posted by rshah on January 03, 2001| Comments (0)
Napster urged to block Nazis
Napster urged to block Nazis
A German security agency asked Bertelsman to prevent skinhead and Nazi music from being swapped over Napster, see also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on December 21, 2000| Comments (0)
Napster Resources from the Open Directory
Napster Resources from the Open Directory
Posted by rshah on December 02, 2000| Comments (0)
Is Napster hurting record sales?
Is Napster hurting record sales?
No, say the numbers. Business is looking good
Posted by rshah on November 27, 2000| Comments (0)
EMusic.com Policing Napster for Illegal Downloads
EMusic.com Policing Napster for Illegal Downloads
Music-download site EMusic.com has announced that it started policing the controversial Napster music-swapping community for songs it has licensed. EMusic is using software that identifies the "acoustic fingerprinting" of music files compressed in the popular MP3 format, see also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on November 22, 2000| Comments (0)
Napster - Powerful Music Software Has Industry Worried
Napster - Powerful Music Software Has Industry Worried
See also ZDNET
Posted by rshah on November 14, 2000| Comments (0)
Schools crack down on Net music software Napster
Schools crack down on Net music software Napster
See also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on November 14, 2000| Comments (0)
MediaDefender - A Napster spoofing company
MediaDefender - A Napster spoofing company
Get ready for 'spoofing' -- fake music files that may help the music industry snag online copyright offenders.
Posted by rshah on November 13, 2000| Comments (0)
NAPSTER ON 30% OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS
NAPSTER ON 30% OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS
A study by PC Pitstop indicates that 30% of personal computers it assessed had Napster installed, a higher number than for software packages such as Microsoft Works, ICQ, and Quicken.
Posted by rshah on November 03, 2000| Comments (0)
Napigator - gateway to alternative napster servers
Napigator - gateway to alternative napster servers
Posted by rshah on September 26, 2000| Comments (0)
Three Universities Refuse to Block Napster
Three Universities Refuse to Block Napster
Duke University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently rejected a request by lawyers for some major music artists to halt the use of Napster.
Posted by rshah on September 25, 2000| Comments (0)
Barenaked Ladies battle Napster with 'Trojan' downloads
Barenaked Ladies battle Napster with 'Trojan' downloads
See also Slashdot
Posted by rshah on September 19, 2000| Comments (0)
Napster Snoozes on Oldies
Posted by rshah on September 08, 2000| Comments (0)
Napster Shutdown
Napster Shutdown
by Salon
Posted by rshah on July 30, 2000| Comments (0)