An estimated 32 million users have done it (just in America). They have used one of the most influential and most popular programs of all time. What is this program? Is it a new operating system or is it new program to chat to others over nearly unimaginable distances? No. It is the convenient yet controversial Mp3 search tool, Napster. Even though, most recording distribution companies and many musicians have deemed the powerful yet simple Napster illegal, the service keeps growing exponentially. There is so much information on Napster and Mp3 technology in general that it is hard to catalog all of it. It is important to take in account the Mp3 encoding process, the reasons why Mp3 is so popular, the Napster program, and the legal issues involving Napster and intellectual property altogether. Napster and Mp3 technology has changed the way music is transported and has shown record distribution companies the ills of their ways and that they should change also. There have been many new accounts made on how the service is beneficial or how it is harmful over the last 2 weeks. Some of my views on Napster have changed because of the class and presentation, however my main view remains the same. Napster should be a subscription service with a cheap fee.
It is imperative to begin by explaining the basics of digital encoding and Mp3 compression. A CD stores songs as digital information. The data on a CD uses an uncompressed, high-resolution format. Specifically here's what happens when a CD is created. First, music is sampled at 44,100 times per second. These samples are two bytes long or 16 bits long. Also there are two channels of music, right and left.
44,100 times/second X 16 bits/sample X 2 channels = 1,411,200 bits/second or 176,000 bytes per second.
1.4 million bits per second is 176,000 bytes per second. If an average song is 3 minutes long, then the average song on a CD consumes about 32 million bytes of space. 32 Megabytes is a lot of space for one song, and it is especially large when you consider the bandwidth most people have available for their Internet connections. Over a 56-kbit modem it would take something close to 2 hours to download one song. The MP3 format is a compression system for music. The MP3 format helps reduce the number of bytes in a song without hurting the quality of the song's sound. The goal of the MP3 format is to compress a CD-quality song by a factor of 10 to 14 without losing the CD quality of the sound. With MP3, a 32-megabyte song on a CD compresses down to 3 megabytes or so. This lets you download a song in minutes or seconds rather than hours, and it lets you store hundreds to thousands of songs on your computer's hard disk without taking up that much space. Now, a question comes up in all this. Is it possible to compress songs into MP3 format without losing quality? This is a very important question and is a point of interest in all of the legal issues with MP3. Compression algorithms are used for many purposes. We use them to compress all types of files. JPG files are just compressed image files, so are GIF files. We use certain compression algorithms for images and text, however a new type of compression had to be found for sound files. MP3 technology employs the use of the Perceptual Noise Shaping algorithm or the PNS technique. Perceptual Noise Shaping takes advantage of the disadvantages of being human (if that makes any sense). For example, there are some sounds that humans cannot hear. Also, there are some sounds which we hear a much better than others. Using facts like these about the human ear, certain parts of a song can be eliminated without significantly hurting the quality of the song for the listener. Compressing the rest of the song with well-known compression techniques shrinks the song by a factor of at least 10. When you are done creating an MP3 file, what you have is "near CD" quality. The MP3 version of the song will not sound exactly the same as the original CD because some of the song has been removed, but it will be close. By dramatically reducing the size of sound files, MP3 technology makes it easier to store and (more importantly) to move music around on the Internet or on portable devices.
Mp3s have not become so popular because of the music they contain. They also have not become so popular because of the computers. Mp3s have become popular because the are now so easily transmitted across short and long distances. One can download an MP3 in a matter of seconds to minutes. With the advent of technologies like Cable modem, DSL connections, Napster and Gnutella, MP3 technology is becoming more and more popular. While I was writing this paper, I downloaded a 4-megabyte MP3 on Napster in 30 seconds at an average of 70 kilobytes per second over a cable modem connection. This is a good example of the speed and simplicity of Mp3 transmission over Napster. MP3 technology is very good for sampling music. People have a problem going to record stores and buying a CD they have no idea about (I know I hate it). MP3s help them find what they want without going through all the filler. It also helps people acquire a single song without having to buy an entire album. One of the arguments that Napster supporters have is that CDs cost so much. Add this to the arguments that record companies make too much money and that the talent (the actual musicians) make too little. These issues put together with the sheer simplicity of using MP3 technology has fueled the music-trading craze. Most new computers have software that can play MP3 files installed on its hard disk. The easiest way to find out if you already have an MP3 player installed is to download an MP3 file and try to double-click on it. If it plays you are set. If not, you need to download a player, which is pretty easy to do. There are numerous players that can be easily downloaded off the Internet. For instance Microsoft's Media Player 7 supports most media types such as AVI (video files) and MP3. Most of these new computers have RCA output jacks. Using the jacks, you can set the computer to output through a stereo. This is a good thing for music enthusiasts like myself. I always use MP3 technology to its utmost potential. MP3 technology makes it easier to do many things. Instead of carrying large CD collections around, one can keep vast amounts of MP3 files on their computers. Music fans can attest to this (I have over 3 gigabytes of MP3s). And instead of having to physically send CDs or Tapes to someone else, one can just send it over the Internet. Mp3 is a technology that has most technology manufacturers drooling. It is new and becoming the company of standard use could be a good thing and could equate to many dollars. Companies like Sony, Sharp, and Magnavox have put a lot of money into creating portable Mp3 products. Diamond Electronics was the first company to burst on the scene with their Diamond Rio player. The Rio had 32 Megabytes of memory and was capable of holding 45 minutes of music. Since the release of the Rio, Diamond has unveiled a new player which has 64 Megabytes of memory and a FM/AM radio. Another interesting product is the Sony MP3 Walkman. The Walkman is very small and sleek, but that is not the interesting part. What is interesting is that the Walkman employs the use of the Smartstick. The Smartstick is a superthin 64-Megabyte chip that can be inserted and removed from the MP3 Walkman. Sony has also found uses of the Smartstick in their digital cameras and video cameras. Also just unveiled earlier this year is a portable CD player that is capable of playing music CDs and CDs of burned MP3s. This breakthrough has enabled listeners to make a CD that contains up to 10 hours of music!
The MP3 format has completely rewritten the rules of music distribution. It has had a huge impact on how people collect and listen to music. No copyright issue in history has cause as much of a stir as MP3 trading. The initial MP3 trading craze was fueled by sites like mp3.com. On these sites, anyone can upload a song. However, the sites cannot legally store or distribute copyrighted material -- that would be copyright infringement, which is illegal. So all of the songs that one might find on mp3.com (and sites like it) are either public domain songs, songs uploaded by artists who are trying to get exposure, or songs released by record companies trying to build interest in a CD. Programs like Napster have made Mp3 trading easier than ever. With Napster one can download from masses of Mp3s. An average 1000 Gigabytes of Mp3s are available for download every time one accesses Napster. The thing that sets Napster apart from other Mp3 trading practices of the past is that trading is done on a peer-to-peer basis. Before, one would have to use an FTP program to access Mp3s over the Internet. This proved to be a lengthy and unreliable process. Napster is a different way to distribute MP3 files. Instead of storing the songs on a central computer, the songs live on user's machines. When you want to download a song using Napster, you are downloading it from another person's machine, and that person could be your next door neighbor or someone halfway around the world. Individuals tend to be less concerned about copyright laws than businesses like mp3.com have to be, so individuals make all sorts of copyrighted songs available to the world from their personal machines. This means that anyone can download, for free, any song that someone has taken the time to encode in the MP3 format. This process could be compared to eliminating the middleman. Eliminating the employment of FTP programs eases the transmission, makes the downloading faster, and (most importantly) makes the search for specific songs much better. Before, one would have to spend hours searching for certain songs, having to settle for unwanted songs, and waiting for hours for transfers. With Napster, one can type in an artist and/or a title and find numerous results for them. For example, a search for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" by D'Angelo turns up 30 results of which 10 of are less than 100 milliseconds away. Computers that are closer are represented by time measurements in milliseconds. If a file is less than 100 milliseconds away, there is a great chance that one can download it quickly. This freedom and ease of use is why Napster is as popular as it is. Another reason for Napster's popularity is choice. I (personally) have some strange tastes when it comes to music. It is not easy to find a lot of the music I like in your local record store and definitely not on the radio. My personal argument for Napster is that distribution companies hike the prices of CDs for the wrong reasons. I am a fan of some European dance music and older music from the fifties and sixties. I could have to spend upwards of 30 dollars for each CD of imported or rare music or just use Napster.
Shawn Fanning was 18 when he wrote the code for a lowly program for file exchange for he and his friends. He never expected that it would change our perceptive of music and how music is exchanged and ultimately how it is purchased. Fanning wrote the code for Napster over three days in his uncle's office on a laptop. He didn't need friends, family, financing-he definitely didn't have much need for legal help. Fanning only dimly recalls that period in mid-1999, when he wrote the source code for the music file-sharing program called Napster. He can't remember specific months, weeks or days. He was just hunched over his Dell notebook, writing the software and crashing on his uncle's sofa or the floor. Then he'd shake off fatigue, scarf a bowl of cereal and sit back down. He worked feverishly because he was sure someone else had the same idea, that any day now some software company or media conglomerate would be unveiling a version of the same application, and then Fanning's big idea wouldn't be his anymore (Greenfield 1), and big it is. Fanning's program already ranks among the greatest Internet applications ever, up there with e-mail and instant messaging. In terms of users, the Napster site is the fastest growing in history, recently passing the 25 million mark in less than a year of operation. And, as Fanning predicted, his program does everything a Web application is supposed to do: it builds community and breaks down barriers. Unfortunately, it might be illegal.
It is pretty easy for Record Companies to tell the American Public that piracy is bad and that all recordings should be legitimate when Record Companies make an average 70% of the profit made from their recordings (Hull 210). Artists (especially non-popular, lesser known artists) should applaud the creation of Napster. It has single-handedly caused enough of a roar to coerce Record Companies to revisit and reconsider how they do business. Love it or hate it that's what Napster has done: changed the world. It has forced record companies to rethink their business models and record-company lawyers and recording artists to defend their intellectual property. (Greenfield 1) I think it is very interesting to see what the artists are thinking about Napster and about intellectual property altogether. Some of the most vocal artists on the topic are Metallica and Dr. Dre. They both have sued Napster and have forced the service to blacklist all users who have downloaded their songs. Dr. Dre still stands firm in saying that he will pursue each violator individually. This behavior tends to make me think, "do the artists really give a damn?" Are they just trying to make a buck? My answer to that is yes. Artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre totally alienate the same fans that pay their exorbitant salaries. My message to artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre is to quit alienating the same fans that pay you! Artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre need to stop looking at the negative things Napster has done to them and think about how Napster has shown them how have been alienated by their own distribution companies. I also have to wonder if this pure disdain for Napster and copyright infringement is stemmed from Metallica and Dr. Dre or from their high profile attorney Howard King. I also have to wonder about the fact that they both have the same attorney and had him before all of the Napster legal troubles arouse. Metallica alone has pending suits totaling over 30 million dollars, it's ridiculous. Other artists are a little bit smarter in their analysis of the Napster situation. The Artist formally known as the Artist formally known as Prince (no pun intended) had this to say about the music industry in the wake of the first lawsuits. "The fundamental hypocrisy of the music industry...is that they are talking about copyright, intellectual property, and other such noble concepts when the only thing that they are actually trying to protect is the commercial value of their musical product (Speakout 1)." To think that another artist, a very rich artist, had this to say about other artists and the music industry itself is very alarming.
"Millions of Americans have joined the online music revolution in recent months because it's simple, it's free, and so far, nobody's stopping them," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, which researches the Internet's effect on society. Never before has there been a movement on the Internet where so many people have broken statues that were set to protect Intellectual Property. Many record companies and musicians see Napster as a threat to money that they are earned. The recording industry, and bands like Metallica, are trying to halt the trading of music online, much of it done with the aid of Napster, a company that lets people search for audio files. Record companies see it as stealing their work. Many companies are vying provide money to Napster in exchange for packaging of the Napster service as profiting service. The only problem is that the company had been stamped "handle with care" because of pending litigation with the recording industry over alleged copyright violations, as well as lingering doubt about its long-term business strategy. A $15 million investment round, led by blue chip venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, will no doubt help the small company finance its legal battles. However, one of the non-disclosed terms of the investment is probably a chance to package Napster. As one of the disclosed terms of the investment Napster had to agree to hire Hummer Winblad partner Hank Barry as a new CEO. Citing the software's massive popularity, the company's new backers say they are confident they can navigate these tricky waters and cultivate a profit-making venture, however. "I think we will build bridges to the record industry. But not just to the record industry," Barry said in an interview today. "I suspect that this will evolve into something that everyone can support (Speakout 1)." Napster is at a critical crossroads in its short history. It has attracted the avid support and daily use of millions of fans that use the service to swap their MP3 music collections online. But as yet, the company hasn't found a way to make money from those millions of people. Moreover, a large number of them appear to be trading songs illegally, an activity that has prompted lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and artists Metallica and Dr. Dre. Some possible business models have emerged from Napster's competitors. Scour.net, which provides a service similar to Napster's through its Exchange software, has signed a deal to become the exclusive Net distributor for an upcoming Miramax film trailer. Encouraging to the young firm was a recent poll of college students, which found that more than 50 percent of Napster users there said they would be willing to pay a $15 monthly fee for access to the service (Lee 1). That could provide Barry with ammunition to propose subscription models to the big record companies. In an address at a streaming media industry conference, Michael Robertson, CEO of Mp3.com said that selling songs one at a time is not the way to go on the Internet. He said the industry would do better with subscription services, in which consumers gain access to large libraries of music for a monthly or yearly rate. People are not buying things for $2 each on the Internet," Robertson said during his keynote at the Streaming Media East 2000 conference. "What they will do is 'all-you-can-eat' buffets for 10 bucks, for 5 bucks, for 20 bucks." Some analysts agree that there needs to be a new system for selling music online (Lee 1). But, Napster still will have to deal with its existing legal problems, which are looming larger as acts such as Metallica and Dr. Dre turn up the heat on the company. The Progressive Policy Institute, an arm of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, today asked Congress for rules that would force Napster to collect hard information on its members, such as real names, which would allow the industry to track down pirates. It also proposed rules that would more easily allow judges to shut down Net services that are "substantially used for copyright infringement (Lee 1)." This goes along with the argument I stated earlier. Mp3 legal problems don't always involve suits against Napster, other organizations have been blamed. In April of 2000, a German Judge ruled that America Online was responsible for letting millions of users download Mp3s using their Internet services. Also in April, Metallica sued three major universities; University of Southern California, Yale University, and Illinois University were sued for their allowing of students to use their networks to download Mp3s. The universities have elected not to block access to Napster, commenting that their only problem is a potential drain on their limited bandwidth availability," the lawsuit reads, "no doubt caused by the massive ongoing thefts of musicians' intellectual property (Lee 1)." I don't feel that sites like Napster are breaking laws right now. I think that laws must be changed to either facilitate the free or taxed trade of Mp3s or laws must be changed to end sites like Napster. It's just too vague.
I consider myself to be a pretty stubborn and persistent person when it comes to my views. At the time of conception of our project and leading up to our presentation, I felt that Mp3 was an important technology but not as important as I felt after the presentation. The presentation succeeded in showing me the significance of Mp3 technology and how immersed we have become into it. When I asked the class, "who in the class has never used mp3 technology" I did not expect to have no one raise their hand. It is customary if not expected for every student to have an mp3 collection. In the presentation and in the weeks after the presentation, I have decided on one new opinion; digital transmission is the future of recorded media.
What is so phenomenal about MP3 trading is not an established practice. Widespread Mp3 trading only began when high speed Internet access was established. It is not something that has gone on over a decade like sampling. The groundwork is laid-out for a revolution in which people can subscribe to services in which they can download all the Mp3s they need, Artists get the money they deserve, and lawyers down have to be involved in the process. There is a much easier way to get music into the World than people using Napster to pirate and artists and organizations having to sue. Mp3s should be handled on a subscription basis.
Back to top
Written byEric Brown