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Napster: Music
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A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. was an incredibly significant court decision in that it was the first to address copyright laws in peer to peer file-sharing. Shawn Fanning’s Napster was the first major user-friendly service to download music on the internet and the record companies were very concerned that this would impact their sales. The recording companies accused Napster of copyright infringement. Napster responded by pointing out three kinds of fair use in sampling, where users could listen to a song before buying it; space shifting, where users could get a song on their computer that they already own on CD; and permissive distribution of songs from artists who chose to use Napster as a tool to get their music out to the public.
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Napster is the world’s most recognized brand in online music, providing fast, safe and legal music downloads. Napster has extensive content agreements with the five major record labels, as well as hundreds of independents. Napster delivers access to the largest catalog of online music, with more than 1,500,000 tracks spanning all genres from Eminem to Miles Davis. Consumers have the option to join Napster’s subscription service.
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In addition to the new PowerSync sync engine, Napster 3.7 features several other usability upgrades that will enhance the Napster experience for all subscribers, as well as Napster.com members who use the software to purchase a la carte downloads and albums. Users will notice the addition of an "always on" icon to their computer's system tray toolbar, which provides faster access to the Napster application. The new software ... shows users the progress of their music transfers in graphical format and notifies them when their portable device is approaching maximum capacity. If they are moving music to a device that supports graphics, Napster 3.7 will transfer album art directly from Napster's library to the device.
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On Monday, Napster outlined three defenses of its music-sharing service, which is under fire from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA has asked a judge to have Napster remove all major-label songs from its service before the big case begins. Napster's legal defense is spearheaded by David Boies, a prominent lawyer who had a hand in the DOJ vs. Microsoft anti-trust trial.
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With the help of his uncle and friends, Napster was founded in 1999 as a peer-to-peer music file sharing service by 18-year-old Shawn Fanning. Napster did not store the music itself in its servers, but provided an index to files in other people's computers. More than 60 million users took advantage of the service, and it quickly became one of the most controversial ventures on the Web, because much of the music being shared was copyrighted material.
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Napster has been named as a defendant in an action brought by Metallica and its business units, E.M. Ventures and Creeping Death Music, alleging copyright infringement and related claims. Thousands of pages of paper documents, delivered today in 13 boxes, claim to identify over 300,000 Napster users who are allegedly in violation of copyright law.
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