Napster: Rise and Fall

Essay # 53875

Computer and Technology
Criminology > Public and Crime
Music Studies

An overview of the story of Napster from beginning to end.

1,643 words () | 7 sources | APA | 2004 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history Napster Inc., a company whose name has become synonymous with copyright infringement. The history, how it was done, what is was, and the outcome of Napster are given to illustrate a form of cyber-theft, what can be done about it, and who should resolve this type of issue.

From the Paper:

"In 1999, an 18-year-old college dropout named Shawn Fanning changed the music industry forever. He created a his file-sharing program called Napster. His idea was to make a program that allowed computer users to share and swap files, especially music, through a centralized file server. His response to this new idea was to download music over the net for more than 60 hours. Fanning wrote a program that combined a music-search function with a file-sharing system. This program also facilitated communication and instant messaging. This is how Napster came to be. (Burkhalter, 2001)"