What is Napster?

Unless you've been living on a rocky hill as a professional hermit for the past six months, you've probably already heard about Napster. It's an ingenious little MP3 "sharing" program. The idea behind it is that a pool of users can log on to a server, and every user can have access to the MP3 music files of each other user. It allows for a lot of music circulation in the online community.

What's the controversy about?

The only problem with this setup is that the users freely distribute copyrighted material. With no royalties paid to any music artists at all. This has spawned quite a hubbub pertaining to music copyright laws and the rights of artists to their music.

How do I get it?

First off, go to napster.com. You can download the latest build of Napster there. Once downloaded, select the "Search" button and search for a title. Double-click on one of the matches, and you're on your way!

What about the controversy?

The United States government may decide to shut down Napster at a later date. For now, Napster is still up and running. But even when it goes down, there is hope! A new hack of a program entitled Napigator allows access to any of Napster's servers, as well as a host of private servers that are impossible for the government to shut down. Hence, Napster will live on!