Napster is dead! Long live…well, uh, Napster! As of April 1, 2001, the controversial song-swapping arch nemesis of the recording industry is still alive, and giving the finger to its detractors. Much ado has been made about its demise yet the Supreme Court has, up to this point, failed to completely shut it down. Even with the shrinkage of available files and the promise to block copyrighted work, Napster continues to offer the world. The entire musical world.

     And how does that make me feel? Hang on one sec while I get my CD-R up and running. Ahhh, I can hear it now, the whirring of burners everywhere as they gorge on an open buffet of MP3s. It’s simply a music lover's delight. And I don’t care about any Metallica lawsuit!

     I know what some of you are thinking. I’m an outlaw. A thief. Stealing those poor songs and not paying for them. How will those sad pathetic rock stars survive without my money? Well, somehow I think they’ll pull through. Which leads me to the struggling musician. That lost soul without a record contract, or that young band that just signed their life and integrity away. How will they manage?

     Even better I would guess. File swapping is a fantastic tool for self-promotion. So good in fact, that it may render the middleman obsolete. Oh, in case you’re wondering, that middle dude is the record company. You know, that monolith of musical taste that feeds the public its wretched teen pop trash. Yeah, I’d hate to see them go under.

     But let’s be realistic. Napster will go down. It will cease to exist in its current incarnation. We can all feel it coming. Let’s say it together. Pay Per Download! Which isn’t a bad idea really. In its current state, Napster is a beautiful thing when it comes to getting that song you’ve always wanted, but could never find on that Big Shiny Tunes CD. I mean, who wants to pay twenty bucks for a disc that has only one song you want to hear. Why not make your own compilation?

     If the record companies and their respective artists expect the technology to go away, then they’re flying way over that cuckoo's nest. Expect CD prices to drop, and if we’re lucky, the songs will get better. As for sound quality, Napster gets mixed reviews. It all depends on your line speed, and how the track was created as an MP3 or Wav, or whatever type of file it may be. If you’re an audio enthusiast, then maybe hold out for the CD price drop, or get in line with the download payment scheme. No matter what happens to Napster, files will always be shared on the net. And the record companies/artists will just have to live with that.

     Long live…uh, geez, who’s next in line?

Stevan Krickovic

    Editor's Note: As this article goes to the Web, Napster continues to be a dominant
  Web Portal with over five million unique visitors in the week ending March 25, 2001.