Napster was created by a nineteen year old in goal of creating a website where mp3s could be shared by a file sharing system over the internet (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/Napster.html). If you searched a name of a song or an artist/group, a list of various users with those songs would show up. Double click the song and you could download the song straight from the other user's hard drive. The website lasted a solid two years before being closed down due to infringement on copy righted published music (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/Napster.html).
An example of a lawsuit filed against Napster is the case pursued by Metallica. Metallica inc. actually filed a lawsuit against 300,000 fans under the law of Digital Millennium Copyright Act. After this happened, hundreds of thousands Napster users has their accounts declined and no longer had the right to access the website (http://www.shreddingradio.com/metallica.html). Metallica inc. delivered a list to Napster of who allegedly used the website to copy Metallica mp3s. Many users testified, saying they never copied any music and were allowed to have their accounts back, only them though (http://www.shreddingradio.com/metallica.html).
After all Napster has been through, you'd have thought that they closed down a long time ago. However, it wasn't until December 1st, 2011 that they permanently closed their doors to the public because they joined forces with another website called Rhapsody (http://flavorwire.com/236757/napster-no-more-website-closes-permanently-tomorrow). Napster was actually purchased by Best Buy in order to merge with Rhapsody to make it into a website where music is purchased, such as iTunes or to compete against the Apple company (http://flavorwire.com/236757/napster-no-more-website-closes-permanently-tomorrow).
Personally, I have never heard of Napster until discussed with a teacher. It was popular back when I was a child, in grade one and at that time my family didn't own a computer. As I grew up, the most popular site used to download music was Lime wire, but that is gone too. I understand file sharing is wrong, however artists already make a lot of money from tours, merchandise sales and even the people who are hardcore fans that actually still buy Cds. It's weird to think, that sometimes, artists or bands even lose fans due to not being able to download their music and such.
I have never heard of Napster, it sounds like a great idea though share your MP3s with others and it's free. I also understand why Metalica would pursue them because they might make 12$ off millions of people listening to that one album.
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