Book Review: "The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster"
...should have been titled "All the Greed."
Greed: Shawn Fanning and his co-programmers looking to get music tracks free, more easily. Greed: Uncle John Fanning and the rest of the Napster managers looking to make millions, even billions from the Internet bubble. Greed: Record companies desparate to keep their oligopoly control of music revenues. And greed: consumers sharing Shawn's desire for easy ways to get music free -- without having to tape off the radio.
Most musicians were in a lose-lose situation: let RIAA keep most of their money, or make no money through Napster.
2003 was the year the RIAA had some success fighting the Curse of MP3, that technology that avoided coming under their control. But the end of the year brought multiple setbacks: in Canada, the copyright board ruled downloads legal (but uploads were ruled illegal). In the USA, an appeals court ruled that RIAA's tactics of finding music copiers were illegal. In The Netherlands, the supreme court confirmed earlier rulings that Kazaa software is legal.
This book does an excellent job of presenting the views from all sides of the Napster debate -- pro and con. If nothing else, it's worthwhile reading this history of the most exciting event of the Internet Bubble.
PS: My son asked if the book mentions that Fanning stole the Napster code from the character in "The Italian Job" movie. Nope. "Napster" is the nickname Shawn got playing basketball, based on his hair style.
Author: Joseph Menn
List price: US$25.00
Save by purchasing online: All the Rave
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