Illegally copying and distributing copyrighted material is against the law. This law is widely known, but rarely enforced. However, in recent months an Internet program called Napster has come under fire for aiding in the illegal distribution of music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing 18 record labels, has sued this California-based company for copyright violations. The controversy surrounding Napster is that the program itself does not illegally distribute copyrighted music. The people who use the program are the ones responsible for this illegal distribution. Another problem facing Napster is that universities around the country are beginning to block the program because it takes up too much bandwidth. Despite these problems Napster continues to go strong, adding new users every day. What will be the future of this hot new company?

Napster is the nickname of its creator, 19-year-old Shawn Fanning. Fanning wrote the program and obtained a large cash donation from a family friend. This donation allowed him to quit college and move from Harwich, Massachusetts, to San Mateo, California, to start a company with two of his friends. That w

a file has been authorized for copying or distribution. Copying

Obviously, Napster is involved in the illegal distribution of music. It will be up to the courts to decide if Napster is responsible for this illegal activity or if it is just a program that caters to the MP3 format. If Napster does get past the lawsuit, it still has to address the problem with college campus bandwidth and upstart knockoffs. Somewhere in all of this mess it still has to figure out a way to make money too. Perhaps the company will never even make it that far. Only time will tell if Napster is a revolutionary program of the future or just an Internet one-hit wonder.

Cohen, Warren. "Napster is rocking the music industry The popular Web site has powerful enemies." U.S. News & World Report. 6 March 2000. 41. Electronic. Proquest.

warranties regarding MP3 files possessed by Napster users.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle Napster has yet to overcome is the same problem that faces all new companies. Napster has not made any money to date. They pay their employees and legal bills with generous donations from outside parties. Obviously, they will need to find a source of revenue if they are to survive as a company. They have begun to toy with the idea of advertising or e-commerce, but nothing has been decided yet. Another obstacle they must face is that there are an abundance of knockoffs popping up on the Internet. So far, Napster is not worried. Marketing vice president Elizabeth Brooks says, "We are a freeware company, so we get the whole free music vibe. We are so far ahead of any of the imitations that it doesn't really matter" (Kover 130). Nevertheless, Napster must overcome big obstacles in order to become a profitable organization.

o be available for both searches and downloads over the Internet by anyone else who runs the program. At peak times, this network of Napster users can offer access to several hundred gigabytes of data, or hundreds of thousands of individual files (Cohen 41).

over the Internet by copyright owners; however, Napster users

Hillary Rosen, president of the RIAA, says, "This is not a passive role" (Holland 9).

States and/or foreign copyright laws. Compliance with

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)