> I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down. Did you actually use Napster during its heyday? Of all the P2P software I've ever trie

> I doubt anyone would be buying music if Napster hadn't been shut down. Did you actually use Napster during its heyday? Of all the P2P software I've ever tried, it was probably the worst--or perhaps just the one most poorly suited to casual piracy. The search system was a joke. Even when your search turned up results, it was hit or miss whether they were actually what you were looking for. My favorite example was a file named "Beethoven's 9th symphony - by Mozart" (it was actually a Handel piece). Now it's easy to find private torrent trackers with huge, well-maintained collections in very high quality. Comments and ratings make it easy to decide which of several versions to download, and moderators will even help look for rare files if someone can't find what they want. I think the death of Napster was a big favor to pirates everywhere.