Lexx Music!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Nick:
[b]Napster is a way of linking the computer hard disks of every person logged onto Napster.
(SNIP!)
However, Napster is a bit of a sitting target, the record companies see a chance to stop the whole site, forgetting of course, that a Napster Mark2 could easily spring up in Russia/Belize etc & not be so easily caught.[/b]
Exactly. From what I can tell, Napster is easily targeted because the software allows you to tap into an already existing network of computers that, in turn, tap into the hard drives of each computer logged on. There are already alternatives to Napster popping up, most noticably Gnutella and all of its clones (Newtella, BearShare, etc.) that *don’t* utilize a central network, and are set up as (I think…my computer knowledge ain’t what it oughta be) a peer-to-peer network. You connect with 3 computers that are, in turn, connected to 3 computers each, and the size of the network itself grows exponentially, and anonymously. The Record industry is, and will continue to be, hard-pressed to track down and prosecute anyone for sharing files in this manner. Unfortunately, the Gnutella system is a bit harder to navigate than Napster (though more and more streamlined versions are popping up every couple days), and more files than just music are shared, so it’s a bit harder to find precisely what you want.
–Aleck