 Variation of the Napster logo | |
.png) Napster running under Mac OS 9 in March 2001 | |
| Developer(s) | |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 1, 1999 |
| Final release | September 3, 2002
|
| Operating system | cross-platform |
| Available in | multilingual |
| Type | Media player |
| Website | www |
Napster was an American peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared on the service was typically encoded in the MP3 format. As the software became popular, the company encountered legal difficulties over copyright infringement. Napster ceased operations in 2001 after losing multiple lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy in June 2002.
The P2P model employed by Napster involved a centralized database that indexed a complete list of all songs being shared from connected clients. While effective, the service could not function without the central database, which was hosted by Napster and eventually forced to shut down. Following Napster's demise, alternative decentralized methods of P2P file-sharing emerged, including LimeWire, Gnutella, Freenet, FastTrack, and BitTorrent.
Napster's assets were eventually acquired by Roxio, and it re-emerged as an online music store commonly known as Napster 2.0. Best Buy later purchased the service and merged it with its Rhapsody streaming service on December 1, 2011.[1] In 2016, the original branding was restored when Rhapsody was renamed Napster. In 2022, the Napster streaming service was acquired by two Web3 companies, Hivemind and Algorand. Jon Vlassopulos was appointed as CEO.[2]
- ^ Sisario, Ben (2011-10-03). "Rhapsody to Acquire Napster in Deal With Best Buy". Mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com. United States. Archived from the original on 2013-04-27. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
- ^ Vincent, James (2022-05-18). "Napster joins Limewire and Winamp by jumping on the web3 bandwagon". The Verge. Retrieved 2024-02-07.