f of the service. They were. Other musicians such as rap superstar and forefather Dr.Dre have followed suit. Many users who were kicked off have become very angry and Metallicahas received a lot of negative media attention as a result of their actions. Other bands, on theother hand, see Napster as an easier way to new bands to get heard, a way to take away some ofthe power from the strangle holds of a few giant media conglomerates that control the musicindustry, and as the new wave in music distribution. Either way, one thing is for sure: MP3s, theInternet, and Napster has and will continue to seriously change the way that recorded music isexchanged. How Napster Works:1. Napster is downloaded and installed on a personal computer. It is available as a completelyfree download from http://www.napster.com. It is now available to users of all recent versions ofeither Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS. The only other requirement is a connection to theInternet. A faster Internet connection is beneficial because the faster the connection, the fasterone can download music. 2. The software enables the PC to log on to Napster's server. The server is the center of theNapster service. It keeps virtual "libraries" of the songs that each Napster user has. Whenever auser logs in, their computer reports to the server what songs they are sharing in these libraries.When a search is made, the server checks its database for any other Napster users who are onlineand have the file that the searcher is looking for. A search can be made using the criteria of titleand artist. 3. If the server finds a match, Napster puts the computer that has the file directly in touch withthe computer that wants it, and the file is downloaded from one to the other. Each computer onthe Internet has an address. This is called an IP address. Depending on the type of service thatone uses to connect to the Internet, IP addresses can either be static or dynamic. Static IPaddre...
