Napster -- The birth of Internet Filesharing

Nowadays, it's pretty easy to just find any music, movie or media file on the internet if you want it.

That wasn't always the case.

At the turn of the century, file sharing clients, the most prominent being Napster, came into the limelight. This free file sharing services allowed users to share music, movies and whatever else you could think of with their peers -- completely for free.

"Okay Karina, make sure your files are above 128 bit rate so they sound good," explained my dad as he showed me how to download music on Napster. With a cable modem and my father's new Windows ME computer, I was a fifth grader with a blank check. I was awe-struck and amazed when I had the entire Blink-182 discography in my clutches, and how easy it was for me to find the new 50 Cent song I had heard on MTV2 using Napster.

I knew for a fact that I was happy listening to a whole bunch of cool music, and that my friends were happy because I was always burning them mix CDs. At the prime age of 10, I never really questioned if my actions of downloading music were exactly ethical.

Why would I question it? I was happy, my mom was happy to not have to spend $12 dollars on a crappy Celine Dion single I wanted, and my friends were happy to be able to listen to new music.

But, I was a pioneer and was actually thinking like Jeremy Bentham -- the greatest number of good for the greatest number of people. The act in and of itself MUST be good if everyone I knew was benefitting from my action and I didn't know anyone who was negatively affected by me downloading music. I also always believed that I was not the only one doing it -- I was only a small pawn in the cogs who downloaded a few tracks here and there and that there were always other, bigger, badder file-sharers who were doing wrong --- but definitely not me.

However, the ends can't really justify the means. Even though file sharers aren't physically taking CDs from stores or putting a copy of "Shutter Island" into their purses/large pockets at their neighborhood Blockbusters (does Blockbusters even exist anymore?), they are still enjoying something that someone put a lot of time and effort into creating, without paying for it. And that, in essence, is stealing.

Hate to say it, but most of the folks from my generation are thieves. I can't really blame them -- it's hard to actually feel guilty about "stealing" music when you have the anonymity of the internet to hide behind.

But really, technology is sorta awesome and is changing every day. What actually constitutes as "stealing" or being "ethical" is now blurred by something called the World Wide Web. And I really really wanted / needed / had to have that 50 Cent song on my 13th birthday party mix CD.