Napster's 10th Birthday

Original file-sharing network is 10 years old


2 June 2009 14:30 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Ding! Napster is now 10 years old, which means that if you remember using it in its original form then you're officially old. The file-sharing network that began the downfall of major music labels has celebrated with a post on its blog from CEO Chris Gorog:

"Napster was about putting the control into consumers’ hands so they could find virtually any song they could think of and, as importantly, they could easily discover and enjoy new music. It quickly became an ever-expanding, very exciting world of music discovery. And it changed the music industry and entertainment business forever – overnight".

Of course, Napster is no longer online in its illegal incarnation - it was sued into oblivion. It relaunched legally in 2003 but the consumers have always stuck with less-legal alternatives like Kazaa, Audiogalaxy, Soulseek and most recently the Pirate Bay.

Last month Napster started offering an all-you-can-stream plus five download songs for $5 a month, which Gorog believes is as close to the original and popular Napster as he’s going to get legally.

However, new upstart Spotify has been making waves by offering an ad-supported music service. It remains to be seen what impact that will have on the music industry.

Related

Via: blogs.reuters.com

Full tags
Software, Audio, Music downloads, Napster, Websites, Music streaming

share print story pdf email story

Recommended articles

Recommended articles from around the web

Loading

Best iPad 2 apps

We detail the best iPad 2 and iPad apps in the app store Which iPad app should you download?

Best new iPad apps

We detail the best iPad apps in the app store for your new Retina Display Which iPad app should you download?

Windows 8

First Look: Windows 8 Consumer Preview reviewed

The new iPad

The new iPad: Everything you need to know

Pocket-lint poll

Q. Does the Samsung Galaxy S III deliver what you hoped for?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Would you switch from iOS to Android? 54% said yes and 46% said no