Music has been one of the most important elements for many years for the community, this is how a lot of programs and applications capable of downloading songs and playing them on the computer have been created, smartphone or tablet
This is how Napster was born, a program that had a great impact on the music industry during its beginnings , where it was responsible for offering all of them free of charge those issues that were mostly paid. And at the same time offer the opportunity to play and create playlists of favorite songs.
Taking into account the importance that this software came to have at the time, here we will explain a little more about what is it ?, what was its function? And how was its great impact on society?
Index:
What is Napster and what is this program for?
This musical service was born in summer 1999, and was developed by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, who decided to create what would be the first version of Napster The main idea of this program would be that users could download software to their computers that would allow them to download music and share resources with their hard drive . At first this seemed like a slightly crazy idea and which would not be allowed by customers.
This is how this program manages to go on the market and which became a way for people to share their mp3 files to which many complained about considering it a piracy or offer illegal copies . However, this software worked as a P2P network.
In this way all these music files became more popular since they could be played on computers . Also, that Napster made things much easier for users, which led him to become one of the main programs of the music industry .
This is how Napster is responsible for allowing the client to listen to music instantly and anywhere, for it offers a streaming service with a Extensive music library where you can find millions of reproductions of all genres. In addition, you have the possibility of using playlists, radio stations and current recommendations .
How did Napster work to allow downloading free paid music content?
Napster managed to become the great reference of music thanks to what allowed to download mp3 files in a very easy and fast way, also provided themes which were usually paid and here you could download to the computer without any cost whatsoever. This is how this program came to make it easier for people what was the search for mp3 songs, considering that this was very difficult to achieve at that time.
This is how it became a software that allowed to share files among its users . In that way, said content was not stored in the files of a central computer, but was kept in the machines of the different users s. This is how this music application works with the system known as P2P or Peer-to-Peer .
This means that every time a song was downloaded from Napster it was simply being downloaded from another person’s computer , it could be located in another country or continent without this generating problems. In this way, the application could provide completely free music themes.
However, this method of working in the long run would bring consequences to its developers, since for many they were providing music without copyright. To all this, the creators of this entire system they claimed that anyone could share their files without committing any crime.
What was the impact of Napster on the music industry?
As we mentioned earlier, this program managed to become one of the most popular at the time, this is how revolutionized the music industry during its beginning. And it was that it offered unique and very useful tools to each of its users. Where they had two options to be able to listen to a song from a specific album , the first one was to ask someone else and the second to pay it .
Back then, buying a song was something that had a very high cost and that not everyone could do. Therefore, Napster allow the download of these melodies completely free, in this way managed to attract the attention of millions of users who quickly began to use it. Thanks to this, it began to be a success.
It had features such as a chat, playlists, allowed to download music easily, had thematic channels according to the types of music, a forum, among many others. All this led him to become the best music download program of his time.
So much so that Napster came to offer musical melodies from different artists that had not yet been released to the market , but which were already published in the program. This began to attract the attention of many people and companies, this being one of the main reasons for the legal problems that this application had.
But why did Napster close? Reasons for the collapse
All this problem begins when Napste r publishes in its interface the recent Metallica song , which was called ‘I Disappear , and had not yet been released by the musical group to the market. Due to this, the melody began to sound on the different radio stations without having been launched by Metallica and without its authorization.
All this did not cause the music group any grace, much less know that all their discography was already available on that program . This is how for the month of June 2000, the band member Lars Ulrich accuses the developers of the program to commit copyright infringement > in court of the Northern District of California.
It should be noted that this was not the only song that had been published without the prior authorization of the creator, that is, without the copyright . Which led to a trial for contempt of law and justice . According to all these problems, the site claimed the following: “The filter system did not work properly, because of this we have to close the site.”
However, Napster developers would not only lose their mind but also receive a millionaire fine at the time, which was impossible for them to cancel at that time. Being in this situation they made the decision to sell it to another company. This is how Napster is still available on the network , where it is now a service of paid streaming .
Napster vs Ares Which was better and how are they different? span>
Napster and Ares became two of the best platforms for what was downloading mp3 music , both were associated with what is known as P2P programs. But the reality of this is that this technology is not only used by BitTorrent clients , it is currently associated with a large number of elements and programs.
This is how Skype nowadays is associated with P2P by Internet telephony, large file distribution >, among other tools. In the same way the different Bitcoin platforms and virtual currencies are considered.
The P2P was also associated with other programs such as LimeWire, Ares, Napster among many others, although at that time the connections were much slower and with interruptions more often. Therefore, here we explain a little more about Napster and Ares and which of them is the best.
Napster
This program was not the first or the only P2P on the market , nor was it the best even though it became the revolution of music applications. This It is because if it was the first P2P network that endangered the big labels and which had to report it several times until its temporary closure .
It was based on sharing music files among its different users , that is to say that each one contributed its mp3 files so that others could also download them . All this allowed its users to find almost all the songs they wanted, regardless of the artist, the genre or the year of release.
In the same way it offered a chat, group channels and individual conversations. Currently it still exists but with a completely different platform, which is no trace of its origins >, now being a streaming and paid platform .
Ares
Ares was launched in in 2002 after the closing of Napster , it became one of the most successful P2P clients in the market , especially in Spanish-speaking countries. It still continues to provide its services and with a new version called Ares Galaxy.
In its beginnings it decided to use the Gnutella network , being this one of the most popular. However, over time they created their own protocol, where it currently supports magnet links and BitTorrent clients.
If we compare it with Napster, it can be said that ares has been much better. In addition, it is still still in force and providing its services offered since its inception. This is how it not only allows to share mp3 audio file , but also videos, images , among others. In the same way it has a very high download speed and offers a forum and instant messaging service.