May 8, 2001

9:32 AM

Could this be the straw that breaks the Camels back.
posted by monkeyJuice (12 comments total)

Probably not. The camel will slow down for a little bit, but then learn how to cope with this straw, and eventually keep going just as strong as before. Someone will figure out how to bypass this.
posted by starvingartist at 9:43 AM on May 8, 2001

I wonder if this "audio fingerprint" is really nothing more than a CRC check...
posted by mcsweetie at 9:44 AM on May 8, 2001

It doesn't have to break the Camel's back, the Camel is crippled. With all the mucking around with name filters, and people renaming their files randomly, the usefulness of Napster has been compromised already.

The whole value was being able to easily look up, and then download, the tracks you wanted. But since fewer people are connected all the time, and the tracks that they have shared are often blocked or misnamed in an unanticipatible way, (is that a word?) users are going to flee Napster in droves. And, unfortunately, there's no consensus on where they'll go to.

Meaning, each replacement service is going to ultimately be less valuable than Napster was at its peak. We have seen the Golden Era. And now it, sigh, is gone.
posted by anildash at 10:09 AM on May 8, 2001

I don't know if it's a straw, but it is definitely a very ancient and stinky double post.
posted by Outlawyr at 10:11 AM on May 8, 2001

Although this was mentioned earlier on MeFi, rather a revisited topic than a doublepost.

And, unfortunately, there's no consensus on where they'll go to.

I see them falling back to IRC Fserves and FTP searches for now....unless this feature in Napster is easy to crack, bringing back a bit more of the functionality while keeping them out of the liability.
posted by samsara at 10:20 AM on May 8, 2001

does this fingerprinting apply only to Napster? if so, then why can't 'they' just shift to a new filesharing client? since all this Napster junk has gone down, i've downloaded both the audiogalaxy and limewire {gnutella} clients. not a beat skipped!
posted by carsonb at 10:38 AM on May 8, 2001

Audiogalaxy rocks; if you haven't given it a whirl yet, try it out now. Beats the pants off of Napster in its heydey (which is long past).
posted by lia at 10:41 AM on May 8, 2001

The joy of Napster was the fact that it essentially served as a monopoly on MP3 file-sharing. Sure, there are alternatives, like BearShare and Aimster/PimpMyDaughter, but none of them will have the support base (or interface) that Napster thrived on. Rather than simply reassociate them with various programs, someone needs to unify the filesharing community for it to reach the levels of success that Napster enjoyed. The canonical problem if that ever happens, will be the immediate shift of the RIAA's strongarm onto whichever program is gaining the most user momentum.

An underground program that receives no media attention, yet employs the services of a fan base the size of Napster's will be the most productive in terms of the peer-to-peer mp3 filesharing community's success. I don't see this happening, however.
posted by Hankins at 10:43 AM on May 8, 2001

Could this be the straw that breaks the Camels back.

Gosh, I don't know, because I didn't follow your link to find out what you're talking about. See how all today's links but yours tell me what they're about? Please do that too.
posted by nicwolff at 11:53 AM on May 8, 2001

For a bit, put aside the privacy infringment angle..

I think it would be really interesting if songs could be detected and recognized..

"I want someone doing a remix of "Oh, My Home Town Georgia" with a beat faster than 155 bmp, and no banjos.
posted by charlesw at 11:59 AM on May 8, 2001

I still use Napster all the time; I just point it at OpenNap servers instead of Napster's own. End of problem.
posted by aaron at 2:40 PM on May 8, 2001

isn't audiogalaxy bundled with spyware (webhancer)?
posted by kush at 9:40 PM on May 8, 2001