After years of court battles, Napster was finally forced to install
screening software on its service last weekend. The software was
developed in an effort to keep federal courts from shutting down the
hugely popular music-swapping network. No need to fear, music fans, the
screening technology is still in its primitive stages, and there are
easy ways to get around it.
First, start up Napster and search for your favorite song. It's
likely that it'll come up and you'll be able to download it just like
in the good ol' days. If your query returns "no results," then your
search has been caught by Napster's screening technology. To give you
an idea of how effective Napster's music barricade actually is, only 1
of 10 songs that I searched for was blocked.
Don't fret if you want a song that is no longer available on Napster
- there is a trick that you can try, and if that doesn't work, many
other places that you can look. Start by varying your search terms a
bit. For example, if you're searching for Metallica's "Unforgiven," and
your query returns no results, drop an 'l" from the spelling of
Metallica (Metalica). This search produces over 100 results from other
users who have accidentally (or purposefully) misspelled the group's
name.
Napster's users aren't the only people who have noticed that its
screening technology doesn't work all that well. Both Dr. Dre and
Metallica are angry that many of the 200 songs they requested be
blocked are still available. Napster has said that making the screening
system work effectively won't be easy, but the pressure from the courts
and music artists could pick up the pace at which it improves the
technology.
As days progress, it will most likely become more challenging to
find copyrighted songs on Napster. Many users will get sick of having
to make changes to their search queries to turn up results, and Napster
will most likely improve its screening system so that it becomes smart
enough to catch these small changes in artist names and song titles.
This is when we thank Napster for the great times that we've had
together - and then scour the Internet for a similar music-swapping
service.
Many search engines are reporting that thousands more people have
been using the search term "Napster alternative" in the past few days.
It's no surprise, either. There are many services that follow the same
basic idea as Napster, but they haven't been large enough to get the
attention of the Recording Industry Association of America (which is
probably a good thing). As Napster becomes less popular for swapping
copyrighted songs, its users will switch to these other services.
Mactella is the best Napster
alternative for Mac users. It works in a similar way to Napster, but
allows you to swap more than just music files. However, its design is
not as efficient as Napster, and you can't do an artist/song title
search. It's the next best thing and is worth a download. Another
alternative is FreeNet,
which offers little Mac support at this time.
File-swapping clients aren't the only way to "share" music files.
Various websites perform online searches, and although they don't work
as well as Napster and Mactella, they are effective. Both Excite and Lycos offer MP3 searches, and
AudioFind is another good
resource.
The music industry may think that its doing away with MP3s by
forcing Napster to screen songs or shut down completely, but the online
music sharing community will thrive for many years to come. People say
that once a technology has been developed, you can't just back-step and
forget about it. The same goes for file swapping; music fans will
continually find a way to cheat the record industry, no matter how hard
it gets.
