Personally... I use Napster much like i'd use the radio, only I get to decide what is good music and what isn't.

Living in rural Alberta (Canada) a blues lover just doesn't get the exposure to it with the radio here. Unless you consider blues to consist of 60's-70's classic rock... in which case we have a TON.

I probably never would have heard of Blind Boy Fuller, John Hurt, Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Charley Patton..etc... But by finding people on napster who had the same musical likes as myself, I have been exposed to these artists and many others I may never have otherwise heard.

The other pro of napster is that after checking most of the CD shops in the area, not many will carry any remasters of said bluesmen. So getting them to import the disk is horribly expensive (sometimes upwards of $30) and it's always a bit scary buying 2-3 of those disks not knowing what to expect, and knowing full well that if I take them in to a used shop i'll get 5% back of what I paid (if i'm lucky). This way, I can listen to a couple of the songs, see if this is what I am after and then go out and spend my money without hesitation.

Napster is a great form of music sharing, excellent for the consumer and added exposure for artists, it's all a matter of perspective I suppose.

Great site!

Will