Napster was first created by Shawn after listening to numerous roommates complain about dead MP3 links. He also wanted to develop an easy pathway for users to find and retrieve music files. Shawn then embarked upon a journey to search for a solution for these dilemmas. With the knowledge of the UNIX operating system from his junior and senior year of high school, he subsequently learned Windows. With this information as the platform of his creation, Shawn felt as though he knew enough to develop a program that could resolve the MP3 dilemma.
Shawn�s uncle, John Fanning, saw the prospective in Shawn, with his great programming abilities and his talent to accept and utilize criticism as a stepping stool toward perfection, and in Napster and began supporting him by providing financial backing, a position and office in one of his companies, computer equipment, etc. Under the direction of his uncle, Shawn was permitted to tap into his creativity and in turn developed his first major program. As he became more engrossed in his newly found innovation, he eventually dropped out of college. Napster was on its way to becoming a legendary computer program.
This technological phenomenon hit the music industry with a bang and changed the music industry permanently as it enabled users to download hit songs without having to purchase an entire album and provided collections of older songs and unreleased recordings. Access to these music files allowed individuals to create and record compilation albums on CD�s without paying fees to artists, composers, retailers, etc. As all good things must come to an end, there is always a downfall to success.
Napster became the highlight of a music-industry controversial scandal and was accused of massive copyright violations. Ultimately, Napster became the target of several lawsuits by the music industry and artists that eventually resulted in the cessation of Napster and the filing of bankruptcy. Today Napster has been reincarnated; however, they no longer offer its services for free.
