Word: napster
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...cautiously hand-circulated. Whistle-blowers could safely bring smoking-gun documents to light. But Freenet could also be put to less high-minded use. Critics say it will be a boon to drug dealers, terrorists and child pornographers. And it poses a new threat to intellectual-property rights. With Napster, at least there's a company to sue and a way to trace individuals who have downloaded CDs. If Freenet catches on, it may be impossible to find anyone to punish...
...over the summer of 1998. His key innovation was the element of anonymity. PCs hooked up to Freenet (the software can be downloaded from freenet.sourceforge.net become "nodes," meaning they are host to data files deposited on them for varying amounts of time. There's no central server, as with Napster. And there's no need for users to sign on or identify themselves...
...time that decision came down, the rise and rise of Napster had made My.MP3.com look like a littering violation in the middle of a full-scale riot. And Robertson, because he disavows the Napster free-for-all and sees a future in which record companies get paid for online distribution, has suddenly become a man the music industry can do business with. The settlement deal MP3.com cut with Warner and BMG two weeks ago--whereby Robertson will pay $100 million in damages and get a license to run My.MP3.com in return--is only the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
...price of a single CD--to have online access to thousands of albums. This music channel--along with the CDs already in their collections--will be available anywhere there's an Internet connection. Robertson believes the mainstream will choose this limited-pay model over legally dubious networks like Napster and Freenet. Thus far the rise of MP3s "has been painted as a college-kids-gone-crazy phenomenon," he says. "In fact, it cuts across all walks of life...
Suddenly it seems the once radical Robertson is offering a third way between the rigid order of the old world and the chaos of Napster, a chance to make money out of wide but shallow channels of online music and still make a buck or two selling CDs in stores. That should be music to the dinosaurs' ears...