Napster revolution? Oh yeah, now I remember

It's been a while since I've been able to talk to fellow Napsterites in this kind of forum, and I truely enjoy it. It reminds me of the things I wrote and read on the Nappy forum, and as I look back on a few of the threads that have been backed up (thanks for the link, Oscar) I remember the vague predictions that were made then and have actually come true. It sickens me how some of our most morbid dreams actually materialized. Here's a few examples from last year.

Mazer:
...a new Internet music trading system that works like Napster but allows the listeners to "tip" the artists.

This idea has been implimented to some extent, but it has never gained the kind of popularity that it should have, and no file trading program has ever integrated the tip jar idea.

Mazer:
There is a real possibility that Napster will become a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the major record companies. Maybe that is a little pessimistic but the opportunity exists for the RIAA and the big five to take over Napster and turn it into an other way to exploit the artists and the public.

I meant this to be a warning to Napster: Don't sell out. Appearently they didn't hear me. Bertlesman finally figured out that they had to address the music consumers differently. But when they bought Napster it was the begining of the end.

TankGirl (to Napster, Inc.):
If you fail and vanish, this historical gathering of music-loving people will inevitably split between your numerous competitors - and things will never be the same. Instead of one community united and powered by the love of music and the spirit of sharing there will be numerous minor communities with much weaker unity and much less power of spirit. With the momentum of a global revolution gone, they will be much easier prey for the commercially motivated corporations whose interest is that mp3 music should not be free.

As a result we've had to maintain this portion of the community through email, ICQ, and finally this forum, because Napster isn't the powerful binding force it once was.

TankGirl:
I would like to see a representative of the company management - preferably from the highest level - to come forward and state that you believe in the future of the company yourself.

That never happened until the primary injunction was brought down on their heads and they made a statement that was meant more for the press than for us. Since then Napster has been like Microsoft, treating it's user base as a bunch of nameless, faceless customers instead of the loyal supporters they were. That left me and others serously disenfranchised.

Izian once put together a very long thread on the subject of copyright law (it took me an hour to read it all!) and it had many good points in it. He quoted an article concerning eBooks and the way the Digital Millennium Copyright Act applies to the new technology. While real books will remain the same, eBooks will have some heavy rules tacked on. Appearently you will have to pay each time you read an eBook even after you've paid for already. If you give the book to a friend he has to pay also. What if CD's, DVD's, and MP3's were all pay-per-play mediums like eBooks are? Things are headed that direction. I wouldn't mind paying for a file trading service any more than I mind pying for my ISP, but pay-per-download would be ridiculous, especially if each file had a different price. Make no mistake, that's what's happening now.

I guess I don't really care about Napster anymore. The fire it started has died down but the coals continue to smolder, and for now that's enough heat for me. But it's too bad; it's turning out to be one of those good music years (tends to happen every five or so years for me) and I'm not finding the songs I want. But I'll be patient because at some point someone's going to pour some gasoline on the embers and the fire will rage. The community will find it's center once more and all those unconnected librries of MP3's will morph together. Probably Napster's paper ashes will float away and be forgotten.

[relic]

I'm telling you...we seriously need to write some kind of book. this is no joke, we really need to do it

just look at the examples of the few predictions you and tankgirl made...that came true.

we could call the book 'Napster: the people, the music, the contraversy. Stories from the people that were there.'

Book sounds interesting. Why do you bring it up?

[relic]

Originally posted by Mazer
Book sounds interesting. Why do you bring it up?

I've just always had this dream (pretty farfetched though) of a book coming out and being a great success. In it includes stories from different napsterites that were/are regulars at the napster forum. It also goes into a history of napster and other things.

That's my sappy/cheesy idea of what someone should do...

I'll write it, but it'll only be about four pages long.

[relic]

Originally posted by Mazer
I'll write it, but it'll only be about four pages long.

that's what I was afraid of....

[TankGirl]

Good post, Mazer!

It is interesting to reflect back on the feelings and thoughts that we have gone through during the various phases of the Napster Era. It was really not that long ago in calendar time when those original posts were written (I can't believe I started posting on the Nappy board just a year ago!) but in psychological time it feels like ages ago. This feeling of distant past is not only due to time running more swiftly in cyberspace but perhaps even more due to the unfolding of consciousness and understanding - individually as well as collectively - that has taken place since those times.

There seemed to be something unique and almost magical to Napster - something worth fighting for and spending a great amount of energy to make better. And of course there was something unique - the massive first-time coming together of millions of online music lovers. Napster was the Woodstock on Internet, and there will probably never happen something quite similar. There is always a special freshness to things that happen for the very first time.

In retrospect my greatest worry at those 'early' days was the possibility of the global filesharing community being permanently shattered by the hostility of the RIAA or the stupidity of Napster Inc. Well, we have seen plenty of both, haven't we. And now, being both stabbed and kissed to death by the RIAA, Nappy's prospects are gloomy indeed. The RIAA has also done a good job on preventing OpenNap from growing into a filesharing solution for the masses. These developments might look like a success for the RIAA and a fatal blow to the idea of a global filesharing community but I see it differently. By pushing the edge of software development into the field of serverless p2p the RIAA is quickly losing all control over it. And as the example of Morpheus shows (100k users in just a few weeks) people have learned to switch their p2p software and quickly reorganize themselves into new global communities. Not bad, not bad at all.

- tg