16 Facts About Napster

1.

Napster's assets were eventually acquired by Roxio, and it re-emerged as an online music store.

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2.

In May 2022 the Napster streaming service was bought by the blockchain company Algorand and the crypto-focused investment firm Hivemind.

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3.

Napster made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, such as older songs, unreleased recordings, studio recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings.

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4.

Napster paved the way for streaming media services and transformed music into a public good for a brief period of time.

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5.

Macster was later bought by Napster and designated the official Mac Napster client, at which point the Macster name was discontinued.

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6.

In March 2001, Napster settled both suits, after being shut down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a separate lawsuit from several major record labels.

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7.

Napster was faced with the following allegations from the music industry:.

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8.

Napster lost the case in the District Court but then appealed to the U S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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9.

Immediately after, the District Court commanded Napster to keep track of the activities of its network and to restrict access to infringing material when informed of that material's location.

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10.

In 2002, Napster announced that it had filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets to a third party.

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11.

Lawrence Lessig claimed, however, that this decision made little sense from the perspective of copyright protection: "When Napster told the district court that it had developed a technology to block the transfer of 99.

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12.

On July 11, 2001, Napster shut down its entire network in order to comply with the injunction.

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13.

Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, and as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million.

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14.

On May 17, 2002, Napster announced that its assets would be acquired by German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million with the goal of transforming Napster into an online music subscription service.

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15.

In September 2008, Napster was purchased by US electronics retailer Best Buy for US $121 million.

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16.

On December 1, 2011, pursuant to a deal with Best Buy, Napster merged with Rhapsody, with Best Buy receiving a minority stake in Rhapsody.

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