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Napster Bans Users

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the follow-through dept

Wed, May 10th 2000 2:05am — Mike Masnick
No surprise here. Napster has followed through on Metallica's demand that they ban over 300,000 users. Metallica is doing a wonderful job of pissing off and (I would imagine) losing fans. Of course, as has been pointed out, Metallica's case against these specific users is a bit weak if they didn't actually download and check to see that the "offending users" were actually offering pirated tracks. Also, Napster users can simply reinstall the software and log back in with a different user name (or switch to a Gnutella or some other clone). Napster is offering an appeals process which is probably only good if (1) you really didn't offer any Metallica tracks and have never had any on your hard drive and (2) you feel like being part of a publicity case. Otherwise it's probably easier to just figure out a different way to get your mp3s.
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6 Comments

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  • identicon
    Mr.White, 10 May 2000 @ 11:54am

    Am I missing something?

    If I *really* like a song.....I mean, I listen to it...like now, I am listening to "Monster Magnet" ....very cool band. I have not had time to buy CD, but then .it will be totally legal..right? Ok, I know a buddy @ work, 200+ MP3s, WHY? How much muzak can you listen to? Sure, ok I see if you could pop it into your car and go bumping....that would be cool, but JUST on your system? Useless...really useless. People, do the right thing...buy the CD. I do. Because of pirates/rippers...I have to pay more. Comments/rants welcome :) mrwhite@collectivethoughts.org

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 10 May 2000 @ 12:12pm

      Re: Am I missing something?

      First off, I have a ton of music (and I'm talking about CDs, not MP3s). The reason I have so much is I like it, and I can listen to all different things at different times. What's wrong with having 200 MP3s? Actually, I think that's a pretty small number, as I'd probably get bored with just that many. Second and more importantly, it is NOT the pirates that are keeping the CD prices high. For example, today we find out that it's the music industry themselves that have artificially been inflating the prices of CDs. Plus, we've already shown on Techdirt that sales for music have gone up over the last year. There is no evidence that MP3s actually harm the music industry.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Glenn, 10 May 2000 @ 2:43pm

        Re: Am I missing something?

        While I'm not a Napster user, I have to say, that Metallica has really pissed me off lately. They are coming to Texas in concert, and for $65/tix you can go see them from some seat on the 100 yard line. Add that to this whole Napster thing and it seems that they are a lot less about music than they used to be... I know that I used to be a huge fan, but I don't think that's true any more.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anon, 11 May 2000 @ 10:43am

    Napster Ban...Can't Get back in...

    >> Napster users can simply reinstall the software and log back in with a different user name

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anon, 11 May 2000 @ 10:44am

    Napster...Banned...Can't Get Back In...

    (...Napster users can simply reinstall the software and log back in with a different user name ...)

    I logged in, and it told me to upgrade to Napster 2.0 Beta 6 which I did...then it told me my ID was banned. So I uninstalled Napster and reinstalled the Beta 5 Release using a new ID and E-Mail address. Uninstalled again wiped out all registry references and all Napster directories, cookies, etc. Rebooted again, and installed Beta 5, no good, repeat installed Beta 6...still no good....

    Anyone have any ideas....

    BTW....Metallica is lame, I would never buy their music, did not listen to the Metallica songs more than once...downloaded them because of suggestion of friend who thought I might like one of their songs....

    Keith S. :{)>

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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