h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.h2g2.com/A421606

I didn't find a Napster guide entry, so I'm hoping this will work. h2g2 really needs an entry on so widely known a topic as Napster. Possibly there aren't any entries because it might be illegal and h2g2 doesn't want to endorse it? Beats me. Anyway, have a look.

I think that the biggest reason that nobody has written about Napster just yet is because its story is only now developing... any research project on it would be obsolete in another six months, at most. Given how long it takes to get an article approved, it really isn't worth undertaking just yet, in my opinion.

That said, I would say that this is a good start, but could use a bit more... tell us about the basis for the legal disagreement, and something about the forces on either side... maybe even mention the hearing in Congress with the Napster CEO and Metallica's Lars Ulrich as the primary speakers. And of course, when their is a final result, let us know about that, too.

Agree that an entry should be here and this is a good start. Even if Napster itself is closed down somehow, the idea is part of our future, and record companies are completely stuck unless they find a) some way to completely block the transfer of MP3s across the internet (!) or b) some way to make it legal by charging in some way. I don't know anyone who has stopped buying CDs completely because of Napster and most people seem to use it as a way of checking out stuff that's been recommended to them or that they've read reviews of. If they like what they hear then they trundle off to the shops and buy the CD and get the full quality and portability that entails. Napster becomes a kind of custom radio show. But record companies obviously can't endorse that at the moment. They might be better off turning a blind eye to it somehow??

By-the-way, there's been quite a few examples recently of people faking tracks and making them available to Napster. e.g. the new Radiohead album 'Kid A' is up on Napster two months before its scheduled release - but don't get too excited coz it's a load of mocked up stuff at up to 14meg per track!! Nice one. Could this have been set-up by the band themselves? Radiohead are certainly very aware of the MP3 phenomenon, even spelling out the titles of new songs at recent concerts to make sure they're credited correctly when the bootlegs appear on the web the next day!!

-Dan-

Actually, there have been multiple guide entries written on Napster -- it's just that none of them has made it to the "edited guide" stage yet. Check out these:

http://www.h2g2.com/A351019
http://www.h2g2.com/A406108
http://www.h2g2.com/A404731

The latter two aren't necessarily all that useful, but maybe yours and A351019 could be combined?

I have to agree that this is pretty much a work in progress - It's good - but it's way too small for such a large topic. I'd suggest a move to the writing workshop....

I balieve you could interpret my earlier post as a concurrance.

Thank you, formerly GB.

Editorial Note: This Conversation has been moved to the new 'Flea Market' Forum.

This is where we move any Peer Review, Writing Workshop or Alternative Writing Workshop Conversations where the original author has *not* posted to h2g2 for three months. This prevents the active Review Forums from clogging up with dormant entries, but in the Flea Market they can be picked up by others and polished off.