Talk:Napster

	; Archives (Index) ;
	2012; 2013; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; 2020; 2021;
	This page is archived by ClueBot III.

Napster was one of the Sports and recreation good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 9, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
August 12, 2008	Good article reassessment	Delisted

Current status: Delisted good article

This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Apple Inc. C‑class Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Apple Inc., a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Apple, Mac, iOS and related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Apple Inc.Wikipedia:WikiProject Apple Inc.Template:WikiProject Apple Inc.Apple Inc. articles
C	This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

California: San Francisco Bay Area C‑class Low‑importance

	California portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia articles
C	This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	San Francisco Bay Area portal This article is supported by San Francisco Bay Area task force (assessed as Mid-importance).

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Computing: Software C‑class Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Computing, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of computers, computing, and information technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ComputingWikipedia:WikiProject ComputingTemplate:WikiProject ComputingComputing articles
C	This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Software (assessed as Low-importance).

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Media C‑class Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Media, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Media on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MediaWikipedia:WikiProject MediaTemplate:WikiProject MediaMedia articles

C

This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WikiProject Media To-do List:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Mackay Radio
Cleanup : Media influence, Video game culture, Sound bite
NPOV : Content (media and publishing)
Verify : Multimedia, Alternative media, Alternative newspaper
Other :
- Answer requests for comments

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Music theory C‑class Low‑importance

	Music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Music theory, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of music theory, theory terminology, music theorists, and musical analysis on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Music theoryWikipedia:WikiProject Music theoryTemplate:WikiProject Music theoryMusic theory articles
C	This article has been rated as C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on December 7, 2014.

Jordan Ritter

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-96066.html?legacy=zdnn - interview: "Shawn Fanning: Not really. I thought it was pretty exciting just in terms of the technology. One of the founding developers, Jordan Ritter - once that happened - had to take over the server-side stuff because there was so much work."
http://www.businessweek.com/ebiz/0004/em0412.htm - "enlisting the aid of two other guys he met on IRC, Napster co-founder Sean Parker and programmer Jordan Ritter."
http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jordan-ritter - his profile, where a co-founder claim is made (not a good source).
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-248662.html - current source, which doesn't talk about napster

I can find a bunch of news stories that mention Fanning as founder, and even John Fanning, but Ritter isn't mentioned. He seems to have been a developer hired to write some of the server code. Founding developer isn't founder, and the other article lists him as a programmer. No wiki article. M 03:02, 16 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Jordan Ritter hung around for a bit in the beginning and did some server-side stuff but it didn't last. Within a few months of the start, Jordan Mendelson joined Napster. Jordan Mendelson totally redid the backend of Napster and none of the Jordan Ritter stuff survived. Jordan Mendelson was the chief architect and the one who scaled everything so that Napster always stayed up and running during the explosive growth. There is often confusion because of the same first name but none of the Jordan Ritter code was actually used by Napster beyond the first few months

Previous comment was authored by 76.14.60.46, the same IP that edited the Napster wiki page to reflect these comments as fact (diff of "chief architect" addition). From the contribution history, the IP appears to be Jordan Mendelson himself, perpetuating false information for his own benefit. Jordan Mendelson was a bright contributor but never held the title of Chief Architect, nor was he officially in charge of anything. jpr5 (talk) 22:01, 11 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What are you smoking? Ritter, Ali, and Jordie all worked together on the server for the entire length of the project. In fact as I recall Ritter implemented the mesh code that finally allowed searching across multiple servers. 67.188.208.208 (talk) 06:51, 12 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Promotion section

I attempted to edit the "promotion" section of this article to explain that recorded music sales dropped 50% from the inception of Napster (and its progeny) in 1999 through 2009, but it was reverted out by several Wikibullies, who do not want that fact set forth. I also disputed the use of the term "sharing," which is a misnomer. Sharing is a computer concept whereby a network of computers share access so that computer A can access a file on computer B, but the file remains resident on computer B. Copying is a simple concept whereby the file on computer B is copied to computer B. Napster was designed to facilitate copying, but the proponents of Napster called it "sharing" for propaganda purposes, since the unauthorized copying of a copyrighted work is a civil and criminal offense and morally wrong. "Sharing" sounds like something your elementary school teacher wanted you to do. If you share a sandwich, the other person eats half of your sandwich. If you log onto a so-called "file-sharing" system, the other person copies your song, but you keep your copy, too. The Courts held that Napster was a giant copyright infringement. However, it was very popular and still has many proponents on Widipedia, who still insist on calling it "sharing" and don't want the fact that their "sharing" wiped out the music industry (and a lot of recording arists with it), because that makes them immoral people. Now they add CENSORSHIP to their bad acts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ArdenHathaway (talk • contribs) 19:51, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note ArdenHathaway's POV: [1]. Napster is called a file-sharing service because that's what reliable sources call it: [2], [3], [4], [5] --NeilN ^{talk to me} 20:06, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"File sharing" is a propagandistic misnomer which was applied by the proponents of Napster because what they were doing was creating a criminal conspiracy to infringe copyrights. What their system actually did was "file copying." The fact that others used the misnomer does not mitigate the inaccuracy. I'd call it a "file stealing" system, but that's not "neutral." ArdenHathaway 21:03, 18 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by ArdenHathaway (talk • contribs)

And thus, you miss the point of one of our core policies, WP:Verifiability: "...content is determined by previously published information rather than the beliefs or experiences of its editors." If you can find neutral sources (note that I provided links to Britannica and Time among others) that call it a file-copying system then you can make your case. Simply providing your opinion will accomplish little. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 22:53, 18 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Defunct yet implicitely presented as active?

The {About} tag starts with "This article is about the defunct peer-to-peer service" and the lead contains a mention of the company's acquisition by Rhapsody, but the infobox includes a link to napster.com (also in the "External links" section), which doesn't exist anymore. (The link is not technically dead because there is a redirect to Rhapsody, but this is still misleading.) Shouldn't these links be removed? Also, shouldn't the infobox contain a "Fate" line? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.130.179.8 (talk) 14:05, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

66.130.179.8, these are all good and valid points. I urge you to Wikipedia:Be bold and make these changes yourself. If anyone disagrees, they will revert and then the matter can be discussed, but your suggested changes do not sound controversial, they sound useful. I also urge you to create an account, as many disadvantages exist for IP users while advantages exist for registered users (see Wikipedia:Why create an account?). Cheers. Prhartcom (talk) 14:12, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't know what to put on the "Fate" line, especially in light of what appears to be contradictory information at the end of the "Current status" section. Besides, isn't there a preset list of values that such fields can contain? I don't even know where to search for this kind of information. 66.130.179.8 (talk) 22:53, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I see now that this article's infobox is for software, not a company, so there is no "Fate" parameter, but there is a "Discontinued" parameter. I found that out buy typing in the search box "Template:Infobox software" then reading the documentation. But you're right, someone else owns the Napster brand now, so it is not exactly discontinued. Perhaps just remove the website. Prhartcom (talk) 23:03, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

66.130.179.8, I saw your changes, it really looks good. Now, consider getting that username.

Prhartcom (talk) 21:30, 14 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Napster shutdown

Was Napster shut down in 2001 or 2000? Because cited article (and some other online sources) claim, that it was in July, 2000. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/852283.stm. And this article claims, it was in 2001. 46.186.66.131 (talk) 19:49, 1 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]