File
sharing battle continues
By
Matt Logan
On-line Forty-Niner
Napster
was once a mighty bastion of free downloads.
After its fall, Napster disappeared into
the judicial abyss. It has now been resurrected
into the realm of prepaid cards.
The
world of prepaid phone cards is booming
and the Santa Clara-based Roxio Corporation
bought out Napster at a bankruptcy auction
last year. Soon these cards will be appearing
at 14,000
electronics retailers, supermarkets, convenience
stores and other outlets around the country.
They will be next to the regular old phone
cards, but Mike Bebel, the head of Roxio's
Napster division said, "I'd say that
the average consumer has a pretty good understanding
of what these cards are and what they represent."
However,
with the numerous other sites online that
still offer the same service at no charge,
just as the original Napster did, will paying
for downloads survive the bowels of cyberspace?
The students of CSULB have something to
say about it. Tony Mattero, a 21-year-old
finance major said, "I got it for free
before, why pay for it now?"
Students
have moved on since the Napster crash and
found many other file-sharing sites such
as Lime Wire, Kazaa and WinMX. However,
not all students would deny the cards just
because they didn't want to pay.
Ana
Cortez, a 21-year-old micro biology major
said she'd rather "buy the CD and support
the artist."
Maria
Rojas, 21-year-old accounting major agreed
with Cortez. "I might as well buy the
whole CD and get the quality," she
said.
Legality
is also in question. There have been private
citizens that have been served with court
orders to pay thousands and sometimes hundreds
of thousands of dollars for copyright infringements.
"I
don't want to get sued and have to pay large
sums of money for a few songs I could just
buy legally," said Julie Phillips,
24, a home and family studies major. Phillips
is not alone; usage of such free downloading
sites has decreased in the recent months
since the legal rebellion against file sharing
piracy began.
"The
artists should be able to protect their
copyrighted music," said Tina Esklar,
a 30-year-old math major who said she believes
that the rights of the artists themselves
is the real issue.
Lars
Ulrich, of the hard rock band Metallica
helped lead the charge when Napster was
brought down. He wanted to protect his rights
as an artist and put an end to the empire
of Napster file sharing.
The attack on Napster was a success and
Ulrich along with his supporters won a battle,
but not the war.
When
Napster was put down, more sites quickly
took its place. File sharing continues today
by thousands of people across the globe.
Meanwhile, the Napster prepaid card hopes
to cash in on the piracy frenzy. However,
the life of their newly spawned company
emerging from the ashes of a smoldering
giant relies on a world where the consumer
has the power to choose.
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