The Napster Mirage

from the going-anywhere? dept

An article that takes a look at the concept of peer-to-peer as popularized by Napster, and now imitated by plenty of companies to see if anything is there. The article compares P2P to Push technology which had a similar level of hype behind it three years ago. Unfortunately, someone at ZD doesn't want people to read the whole article and split it up into 5 different pages, with no option to piece the whole thing together, so if you want to read the whole thing, you need to keep clicking.
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  1. identicon
    Rainblk, 24 Jul 2000 @ 10:42pm

    Napster as reflection

    Overall , I agree with your story .. C2C or your use of P2P , is not to going to
    provide a wide spread foundation for storage and exchange of commercial
    products. Why ? Because the average consumer isn't going to pay for a file copied
    from Uncle Joes computer, and without a sealed box to protect it from meddling,
    it's going to be meddled with, so it's not " new " merchandise.

    Most consumers are not recording egineers, or movie producers , or writers and
    artists... heck, lots of them are fairly inexperienced at using their own machines. It
    follows that most of them are not going to be doing a professional job at reproducing
    the very works that are carried by these C2C, ( ehh, P2P ) networks. All of the
    exisiting file sharing networks today bear this out. So without a sealed , unalterable
    copy of professionally done ( insert whatever multimedia type file here ) available for
    sale...why would anybody want to risk payment on an unknown quality file ?

    On the other hand.. consumers are very good at, well , consuming. We are used to
    sorting out hype, to climbing on the bandwagon, chasing fads and trends, spreading
    the gospel about our favorite brands of everything from oatmeal to cars to beer to
    entertainment. Especially entertainment. Whether it is the latest TV show, a Rock
    and Roll Band or a particularly good Movie, real consumers advocating for the latest
    thing is the surest way to volume sales.

    This leads us to the crux of the problem for the R.I.A.A. , and the MPAA and a host
    of other content publishers as well. They see a tremendous volume of material being
    passed around and view each instance as a lost sale rather than what it really is :
    Advertising. It's consumers talking to each other about what is good. And talking in
    a way that the Average Joe passes this type of information ,by sharing
    enthusiactically, but often without all the right details.

    Now, if you are selling that file, this is a tremedous problem because you've lost all
    control of product quality , but in advertising,. so what ? Most word of mouth
    product support is on the order of " That movie is awesome ! " or " listen to this , it's
    great ! " Rarely is it detailed or complete. More often the consumers desire is for
    opinion, not fact. When was the last time you read a movie or band review that
    started... " and this is EXACTLY what happens... " . You don't read those type of
    reviews because people don't want the details, they want the flavor.

    So how does this tie into the emergent , wide spread use of file sharing programs ?

    Most of the downloadable content that is causing so much concern for copyright
    holders is the flavor, not the details. Rather than digital masters , most are lo-fi
    ( compartively ), incomplete, or variably done copies of some other media, be it a
    shaky camcorder or old an vinyl pressing with skips and pops. 14 year old computer
    heads may be savvy enough to rip a few tracks from their favorite CD , but they
    aren't professional recording engineers, and the results show it. Shared files on these
    networks are analogous to the copied cassette tapes, coffee break exchanges and
    yard sale gems that are available everywhere in America.

    Which brings us back to the "blackbox file ". Without a sealed verifiable, virus free,
    high quality copy of the product, people are unlikely to get a copy from Uncle Joe
    and send payment to World Music and Movie.Com. Nor is the Amway business
    model likely to spread like wildfire among consumers on the net.

    The Internet has brought some changes. While it is doubtful that file sharing utilities
    have significantly increased the amount of entertaimnment sharing that has always
    existed among consumers, it has made it easier to identify the type of sharing that is
    the most popular. Take a look at the traditional used cd , tape and book stores, and
    try to imagine cataloging the most popular sale items across the U.S., let alone North
    America. In contrast, it's easy to know who's popular today, or still popular after all
    these years. Fire up Napster, Scour Exchange, or Gnutella , or any of the other
    C2C ( P2P ) programs for instant feedback.

    The main benefit to be gained by companies utilizing file sharing programs in their
    business models is not apt to be in distribution. I agree that is a mirage. Their
    principal role is more likely to find wide acceptance in advertising.

    Which is where I disagree with your defination of these programs as P2P, which
    implies a technical equality. As consumer driven networks they will always retain the
    inherent non-technical characteristics of the consumers who use them.

    Napster et al, may be a mirage as a business model for distribution, but as an
    advertising medium, it's a nearly perfect reflection.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Mike (profile), 25 Jul 2000 @ 1:22am

    Re: Napster as reflection

    Wow. That's a great response. By the way, it's not my definition of P2P, but it has become accepted and for good reason. It is "peer" to "peer". That makes no indication of the quality of the products being exchanged.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Rainblk, 25 Jul 2000 @ 1:24pm

    Re: Napster as reflection


    Mike.. Ummm, yes. Sorry about the confusion. My post was actually excerpted from an
    email to the original story author.

    I still believe that while Peer to Peer is an correct description of how file sharing networks work
    from a technical viewpoint, Consumer to Consumer is a better description of specifically what
    they are in terms of business models. IE.. their point isn't the sale of the exchanged materials. ( Yes, Napster and Scour hope to change this, but Gnutella sure won't . )

    Right now the legislative powers are examining the issue of copyrights and fair use, with an eye
    towards regulating, expanding or contracting the current interpertations of fair use. Users of these service utilities are constantly being indicted by industry executives as theives, scoundrels and pirates. The CEO of Seagrams even threw in the obligitory reference to drugs and child poronography in his little speech..

    Unless a dedicated effort is made to assert the rights of consumers to exchange not for profit copies of mediafiles that they have aquired legally, this right is not likely to be championed by the companies which have competing interests, even if a true commercial model of a p2p distribution network can be developed.

    http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,37614,00.html

    http://www.upside.com/Richard_Brandt/397885220.html

    Thanks for the opportunity to discuss this.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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