Lately, everyone has been talking about Napster, a computer program that allows people to share their music over the Internet. Amazingly, people can now download music that they have always wanted right at their fingertips. Shawn Fanning created this revolutionary, yet, simple idea that incorporates the inconvenience of a search engine with a file-sharing system database. However, this simple idea has stirred up a heated legal battle. An alliance of record companies sued Napster on the grounds of copyright infringement. These record companies believe that "Napster is thus enabling and encouraging the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted music"(RIAA-recording industry of America). These very powerful and rich record companies want the control and power of the distribution of music amongst the general public. This power and control of music should not be in the hands of a small, elite group of selfish and rich record companies. The general public should have the power and control of the distribution of music. .
No one thought that someone like Shawn Fanning could harness the power of the Internet into a simple, yet effective program that could link millions of people together. Fanning got the idea of Napster from his friends complaining how hard it is to get music on the Internet because any links that were on websites were just dead ends (Taro). Ever since music has been recorded, people have shared their music with other people. In the 1980s, tapes were recorded and shared among people. It was perfectly legal to buy a tape from a record company, and then produce a copy of it and share it amongst friends. Today, there is a new a way to share music. Engineering firm Fraunhofer IIS in 1987 developed computer files called MP3s, short for ISO-MPEG Audio Layer-3. These files are much smaller than standard files from a music CD. Because of their small size, MP3s can be easily transferred over the Internet from one computer to another.