Napster facts for kids
Napster was a very popular computer program that allowed people to share music files with each other using the Internet. It became famous in the late 1990s and early 2000s. People could download songs for free, which made it a huge hit, especially among young people. However, this also led to big problems with music companies and artists who owned the music.
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What Was Napster?
Napster was created by Shawn Fanning, a college student, in 1999. It was one of the first widely used programs for sharing files directly between people's computers. This type of sharing is called "peer-to-peer" or P2P. It meant that instead of downloading music from a central server, you downloaded it from another person's computer.
How Did Napster Work?
Napster had a central server, but it didn't store the music files. Instead, it kept a list of all the music files that users were sharing on their own computers. When you wanted a song, you would search for it on Napster. The program would then show you a list of other users who had that song. You could then download the song directly from their computer. This made it very easy and fast to find and get music.
Why Did Napster Get Into Trouble?
Because Napster allowed people to share music for free, it quickly ran into problems with the music industry. Record companies and many artists felt that Napster was letting people steal their music. They argued that sharing music for free meant they weren't getting paid for their hard work. This led to a big legal battle.
What is Copyright?
The main issue was copyright. Copyright is a legal right that protects original works, like songs, books, and movies. It gives the creator the exclusive right to decide how their work is used and to make money from it. When people shared music on Napster without permission, it was seen as a violation of these copyright laws. The RIAA, which represents many record labels, led the fight against Napster.
The End of the First Napster
The legal fight was long and difficult. In 2001, a court ordered Napster to stop allowing users to share copyrighted music. This was a huge blow to the service. Napster tried to change its system to follow the law, but it couldn't recover. The original Napster service was eventually shut down in 2001. It later filed for bankruptcy.
Napster Today
After the original Napster closed, the brand name was bought by other companies. Napster has since reopened, but it is very different from its original form. Today, Napster is a legal music streaming service. It works like other popular music services where you pay a subscription fee to listen to millions of songs. This new version of Napster pays artists and record labels for their music, following copyright laws.
See also
In Spanish: Napster para niños
