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Let's show the RIAA that we as consumers can control their fate.
Don't buy any new music media for the rest of this month. If we can get all the millions out there that use Napster, for whatever reason, to do this then the RIAA will lose millions in sells and know that we the consumers, not rich ****oles like Metalica who are only rich because of us consumers, are the ones truely in control.
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge Tuesday laid down the law to Napster, saying that once the recording industry comes up with a list of copyright songs it wants removed from the music-swapping service, Napster will have 72 hours to comply.
The order effectively gives the recording industry control over the immediate fate of the Internet music service that lets computer users download popular songs for free.
Napster is fighting to stay online and retain its popularity while promising to shift over to a subscription-based service that charges listeners and pays royalties to artists. For that, it needs the cooperation of the music labels that sued Napster for copyright infringement.
Napster, which has struggled with little success in the past few days to screen out some songs already identified by record labels, declined to comment on the ruling by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.
"If Napster complies with what this injunction says, it will be to our satisfaction," said Howard King, an attorney for heavy metal band Metallica and rapper-producer Dr. Dre in their $10 million lawsuits against Napster. "It's technologically doable. The question is, is Napster going to go to the necessary steps to do it?"
In her ruling, Patel asked record labels to provide the titles, artists' names and relevant file names of all songs it wants banned. After that, Napster will have three business days to remove the songs.
It will be up to the music industry to prove ownership of the particular songs it wants excluded.
The judge acknowledged it might be difficult to identify all variations of a copyright song, since Napster users could use code words or shorthand to identify different recordings.
"This difficulty, however, does not relieve Napster of its duty," she wrote.
The judge said she would hear any disputes arising from her decision and appoint an independent technical expert if necessary.
Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said: "We intend to provide the notifications prescribed by the court expeditiously, and look forward to the end of Napster's infringing activity."
The music industry could come up against some snags.
Eric Scheirer, an analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, said that in many cases record labels do not actually know what songs they own, what versions are copyright and what are properly registered.
"Many of these records are filed away in a cabinet somewhere and haven't been computerized yet," he said.
Scheirer stressed that Patel's ruling does not mean Napster has to shut down or turn itself off. Instead, he said, Napster's continued survival depends on how quickly or slowly the record labels deliver song lists.
"What it does is give the record labels a great deal of power over exactly what songs are going to show up on Napster, how long they're going to be there, and how usable Napster will be for the vast number of consumers that are on there now," Scheirer said.
If the labels force Napster to pull the plug completely, he said, "consumers will flee to all these other alternative services where they won't be able to control them."
Napster's popularity exploded in 1999 after founder Shawn Fanning released software making it easy for people to locate and trade songs stored as computer files in the MP3 format, which compresses digital recordings without sacrificing quality.
The five largest record labels - Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal - quickly sued, saying Napster could rob them of billions in profits.
Napster, which claims 50 million users, tried to deploy a system over the weekend to screen its system for 1 million song file names. Its attempted crackdown led to a frenzy of activity by users at other Web sites that use Napster software but are beyond the easy reach of recording industry lawsuits.
For example, the Napigator program Monday showed more than 96 million music files being traded by almost half a million people through computer servers as far away as Italy, New Zealand and Russia.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that an original injunction against Napster issued by Patel was overly broad because it placed the entire burden on Napster of ensuring that no "copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting or distributing" of works occur.
At a hearing last Friday, music industry attorney Russell Frackman told Patel that Napster should start blocking access to songs listed on Billboard's Top 100 singles and Top 200 albums charts.
But Napster attorney David Boies said the burden should be on the record labels to find infringing files on Napster and notify Napster."
Joel
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge Tuesday laid down the law to Napster, saying that once the recording industry comes up with a list of copyright songs it wants removed from the music-swapping service, Napster will have 72 hours to comply.
The order effectively gives the recording industry control over the immediate fate of the Internet music service that lets computer users download popular songs for free.
Napster is fighting to stay online and retain its popularity while promising to shift over to a subscription-based service that charges listeners and pays royalties to artists. For that, it needs the cooperation of the music labels that sued Napster for copyright infringement.
Napster, which has struggled with little success in the past few days to screen out some songs already identified by record labels, declined to comment on the ruling by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.
"If Napster complies with what this injunction says, it will be to our satisfaction," said Howard King, an attorney for heavy metal band Metallica and rapper-producer Dr. Dre in their $10 million lawsuits against Napster. "It's technologically doable. The question is, is Napster going to go to the necessary steps to do it?"
In her ruling, Patel asked record labels to provide the titles, artists' names and relevant file names of all songs it wants banned. After that, Napster will have three business days to remove the songs.
It will be up to the music industry to prove ownership of the particular songs it wants excluded.
The judge acknowledged it might be difficult to identify all variations of a copyright song, since Napster users could use code words or shorthand to identify different recordings.
"This difficulty, however, does not relieve Napster of its duty," she wrote.
The judge said she would hear any disputes arising from her decision and appoint an independent technical expert if necessary.
Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, said: "We intend to provide the notifications prescribed by the court expeditiously, and look forward to the end of Napster's infringing activity."
The music industry could come up against some snags.
Eric Scheirer, an analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, said that in many cases record labels do not actually know what songs they own, what versions are copyright and what are properly registered.
"Many of these records are filed away in a cabinet somewhere and haven't been computerized yet," he said.
Scheirer stressed that Patel's ruling does not mean Napster has to shut down or turn itself off. Instead, he said, Napster's continued survival depends on how quickly or slowly the record labels deliver song lists.
"What it does is give the record labels a great deal of power over exactly what songs are going to show up on Napster, how long they're going to be there, and how usable Napster will be for the vast number of consumers that are on there now," Scheirer said.
If the labels force Napster to pull the plug completely, he said, "consumers will flee to all these other alternative services where they won't be able to control them."
Napster's popularity exploded in 1999 after founder Shawn Fanning released software making it easy for people to locate and trade songs stored as computer files in the MP3 format, which compresses digital recordings without sacrificing quality.
The five largest record labels - Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal - quickly sued, saying Napster could rob them of billions in profits.
Napster, which claims 50 million users, tried to deploy a system over the weekend to screen its system for 1 million song file names. Its attempted crackdown led to a frenzy of activity by users at other Web sites that use Napster software but are beyond the easy reach of recording industry lawsuits.
For example, the Napigator program Monday showed more than 96 million music files being traded by almost half a million people through computer servers as far away as Italy, New Zealand and Russia.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that an original injunction against Napster issued by Patel was overly broad because it placed the entire burden on Napster of ensuring that no "copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting or distributing" of works occur.
At a hearing last Friday, music industry attorney Russell Frackman told Patel that Napster should start blocking access to songs listed on Billboard's Top 100 singles and Top 200 albums charts.
But Napster attorney David Boies said the burden should be on the record labels to find infringing files on Napster and notify Napster."
Joel
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