Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Dispatch #2 from the Napster and Gnutella Front
Author: Jacob Levy Posted: 4/21/2000; 10:32:16 AM Topic: Dispatch #2 from the Napster and Gnutella Front Msg #: 16510 Prev/Next: 16509 / 16511
Ever wonder what the Gnutella network looks like? Now you can see it, in several amazing topographical maps. The latest version of Gnutella, 0.56, can be downloaded from here. It fixes some of the problems Chuck Sutton noted.The lawyers are coming! That's the trend, as Metallica sues Napster, and Dr. Dre, a rapper, makes threatening noises in Napster's direction. ZDnet carries this slightly different perspective. Apparently all this was too much for Indiana University, causing them to ban Napster, which got them off the hook in Metallica's suit. Previously, Yale Univeristy had already banned Napster, earning them a suit dismissal also.
Meanwhile, Napster retorts that it will block access to Napster's services to "identified violators". I wonder what that means and if it'll expose them to lawsuits from legitimate users. As far as I can see, there is no illegality involved if both parties own the music being exchanged, so how can anyone "identify violators"?
This week was not the best for Napster, prompting The Standard to ask if it can get any worse. To top it all off, the legal problems have made VCs extremely cautious about funding Napster. However, VCs should take notice of this excellent piece by Charles Cooper that explains why Napster (or something like it) will prevail. And, this CS Monitor piece identifies Napster as the music distribution format of the future.
After Napster comes... Scour.net's new "Son Of Napster". You can download your own copy if you'd like to try it. Scour.net does not limit itself to MP3 files, like Wrapster and Gnutella it can exchange any file type. IMHO this is the future of file exchange. FTP is dead.
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